Against the Gods

Chapter 2129 - Abyssal Monarch (1)

The appearance of a True God-level barrier immediately distracted everyone from the sight before them. At the same time, the Lightless Divine Regent let out a cold snort. “This is the Dreamweaver Kingdom of God’s so-called perfect God Bearer? How pathetic! Positively laughable!”

Although the Lightless Divine Regent could not see, her spiritual perception was scarily sensitive. She could clearly capture everyone’s aura and every minute change in their facial features.

To an outsider, the reason Meng Kongchan had suddenly created the barrier was that Yun Che could not endure the collective divine pressure that had gathered in this temple. He needed time and space to neutralize and adjust to the effects.

Meng Kongchan had no goodwill to offer Shenwu Yanye, so he said in a heavy voice, “My son has only returned for a few years, and he is merely a fourth-level Divine Master. Naturally, the spiritual pressure in this place is difficult for him to endure.”

“Speaking of which, I am surprised that a Divine Regent would stoop so low as to attack a junior she just met. What’s wrong? Did the appearance of a man with perfect divine essence touch a sore spot, Lightless Divine Regent?”

Shenwu Yanye was hurt by her beloved and so came to loathe men like no other. This was something the entire world was aware of. However, only a handful of people dared to taunt her with it to her face... and Meng Kongchan was one of them.

Shenwu Yanye did not get angry, however. Instead, she let out a low, spine-chilling chuckle. “A man with perfect divine essence, is it? That's impressive. You best guard him well and make sure that he does~ not~ die~ again, Dreamless Divine Regent.”

“...”

Meng Kongchan let out a silent hmph as if he could not bring himself to respond to such a taunt. In reality, a silver glint flickered coldly and murderously behind his eyes. Shenwu Yanye’s taunt had undoubtedly touched his reverse scale.

Still, this was a verbal clash between Divine Regents. Although his disgust for Shenwu Yanye had grown by leaps and bounds after receiving such a taunt, it wasn’t enough to make him lose decorum.

This was a problem. Despite being a Divine Regent, he had ultimately underestimated Shenwu Yanye. More accurately, he could not understand the terrifying madness born from the woman’s utterly warped psyche.

Inside Shenwu Yi’s soul sea, the Lightless Divine Regent’s sound transmission resounded: “Seek out the right time and opportunity and cripple Meng Jianyuan.”

She was more of a complete madwoman than a Divine Regent.

“As you command.”

The order was unwise to the point of being terrifying, and yet Shenwu Yi did not hesitate to say yes. Forget fear, her face hadn’t so much as twitched. It was as if cool indifference was the only expression she was capable of mustering.

Meanwhile, Hua Caili could no longer maintain her mask of calmness. In just the span of a few breaths, she had repeatedly tried to get close to Meng Kongchan and ask how Yun Che was doing.

“Relax.”

Hua Fuchen consoled her for the umpteenth time, “With his Father by his side, it would take a miracle for him to experience any difficulties. Your worries are understandable but unnecessary.”

Inside his head, he lamented the fact that his daughter was so lovesick that her mind turned to mush, and her heart became as frail as glass in all matters relating to Yun Che.

However, he was also puzzled. He had experienced Yun Che’s supernatural strength and extraordinary fortitude before. Logically speaking, just this bit of pressure should not cause him to crumble...

There was only emptiness inside the barrier. The only sound that could be heard was Yun Che’s heavy panting.

Bang!

His knees hit the floor heavily as he pressed a hand to his solar plexus. His whole body was shaking like a leaf, and his chest was heaving up and down like something was trying to burst out.

“Heh... hehe... ha... sob... ugh...”

His head was lowered, and disheveled strands of hair were covering up his twitching facial features. He seemed to be laughing, but the voices spilling out of his mouth could only be described as broken sobs.

“Ah... haha... sss...”

“The heavens... have mercy... you... are still alive...”

“You really are... still alive...”

Once again, fate had bestowed him a fantastical gift.

Li Suo slowly appeared in front of Yun Che and watched him silently. From the moment he set foot in the Abyss, she had been sensing his every emotion. She had experienced his determination and loneliness, felt the immense pressure that accompanied every footstep and decision, and shouldered the burden of maintaining absolute rationality, caution, and cold, calculating awareness at all times.

Right here and now, at the highest place of the Abyss, in the Eden’s Crown, where he absolutely could not allow himself to reveal even a hint of weakness or make a single mistake, he was letting his emotions run free without any control whatsoever.

It was all because of that woman named Shenwu Yi...

“Is she... Xia Qingyue?” Li Suo asked softly.

Xia Qingyue had already fallen into the Abyss of Nothingness by the time she became attached to Yun Che through the Primordial Seal of Life and Death. Therefore, she had never seen Xia Qingyue before. However, she had heard the dialogue between Yun Che and the Ancestral Will and had walked with Yun Che through those moonlit memories, entangled with far too many emotions and karma.

She might not truly understand the love between a man and a woman yet, but she knew exactly how much the three words “Xia Qingyue” meant to Yun Che. If she were to summarize that feeling, it would be absolute pain, absolute regret, absolute trauma, and absolute love.

From the moment he learned that it was possible for another world to exist on the other side of the Abyss of Nothingness, the very first desire that sprouted in his heart was the potential survival of Xia Qingyue.

From the moment he set foot in the Abyss, he had called himself Yun Che and did everything in his power to join the Dreamweaver Kingdom of God. Despite facing heavy resistance, he still insisted on using his actual name. One of the biggest reasons he did this was that he hoped Xia Qingyue was still alive and would hear his name.

He had used the Xuanji Hall to look for her as well. However, the surname Xia did not exist in the entire Abyss, much less another woman whose countenance could rival that of the Heaven Breaker Divine Daughter. After that, he stopped searching.

Xia Qingyue had fallen into the Abyss four years earlier than him. In the Abyss, that was forty years due to the effects of the Black Tide of Time. If she were still alive, there was no way she would remain nameless. Her outstanding appearance, talent, and cultivation all ensured that. Even if she had changed her name from the start, locating her should not be difficult at all. Therefore, the answer had appeared in his subconscious long ago.

However, Yun Che dared not touch the truth. He never brought it up after that. He forced himself to hold onto that sliver of hope so ephemeral that it was comparable to the long-faded trail of a shooting star.

Then, the absurd fantasy he deep down believed to be shattered and dead appeared before his eyes out of nowhere, intact.

“It’s her... it’s her...” He murmured in a shaky voice. It was both a response to Li Suo’s question and a confession to himself. “I will never... never mistake her for someone else... she’s still here... she’s still here...”

“Thank goodness...”

“Thank... goodness...”

“I... finally... I...”

He was incoherent at this point.

“I can feel that you are very agitated right now.”

Li Suo said softly, “Your soul is chaotic and warm. You feel so warm it’s as if you may burst into flames.”

“All of the joy and satisfaction I picked up from you in the past couple of years combined may still not compare to what you’re feeling right now.”

“So...”

Li Suo reached out and tapped Yun Che’s shuddering forehead with a pale fingertip that was glowing white. “Now more than ever, you must not fail in your mission, am I right?”

“If you fail, your homeland will face an existential crisis, and even this beautiful dream will pop like a bubble.”

Her light soothed Yun Che’s soul and rapidly quelled the stunning waves raging inside Yun Che’s soul sea.

One breath... two breaths... three breaths...

Soon, his chest stopped heaving, and his breathing slowed. The tremors wracking his body gradually disappeared as well.

There was still mist in his eyes when Yun Che’s eyes slowly lifted his head. However, they disappeared the next instant, and the pair of forever wakeful eyes finally reentered Li Suo’s view.

“Mm. Of course,” Yun Che said with a smile. It was the first smile he ever wore that wasn’t mixed with some other emotion since he entered the Abyss.

He was more fragile than he thought, as the tears he had just vaporized reappeared once more. He had no choice but to dispel them again.

Confirming that Yun Che was no longer in a state of disarray, Li Suo stopped worrying and disappeared without a trace. She left behind only two words, “Be safe.”

Yun Che closed his eyes for a moment. When he reopened them, he cut his alone time short and touched the barrier with his palm.

The barrier shattered with a soft ping, and Yun Che reappeared in everyone’s vision looking just as handsome and refined as he was before. He was now wearing a faint, warm, and harmless smile, and his composure was as perfect as it was sublime. The “awkwardness” he displayed earlier was nowhere to be found.

Yun Che’s appearance caused Meng Kongchan to relax, and he asked with a smile, “How do you feel?”

“Better than ever,” Yun Che replied smilingly. His words were chosen deliberately, though they could describe even one-ten-thousandth of the true joy that filled his soul right now.

“Mm.”

Meng Kongchan nodded. “If you feel further discomfort, then do not hesitate to tell me. There is no need to force yourself to endure, much less care about what other people think.”

“Do not worry, senior.” Yun Che beamed. “With you by my side, what is there to endure?”

“Hahahaha!”

Meng Kongchan guffawed loudly. He clearly enjoyed Yun Che’s answer. He also had a vague feeling that Yun Che’s soul state had changed ever so slightly after leaving the barrier. It was as if some sort of switch that was shut tight this entire time had suddenly been flung open in full.

On the other side, Pan Buzhuo was staring blankly at Shenwu Yi when, suddenly, he shivered and turned his head backward. His eyes immediately met Pan Yusheng’s cold gaze.

“Buzhuo,” Pan Yusheng said with a dark expression, “she is a woman of Eternal Night. Do not forget the lesson my unfilial son learned the hard way!”

Pan Buzhuo swiftly gathered his wits and said seriously, “That woman’s countenance is outstanding beyond imagination. This child admits that he was caught off guard when he first saw it. However, rest assured that this child is aware of her demonic nature. She can be ten times prettier, and this child will still avoid her at all costs!”

Pan Yusheng watched him for a bit before finally nodding in satisfaction. “As long as you know.”

Meanwhile, Yun Che idly scanned his surroundings, feeling the world was much more colorful and bright than usual. The pure clouds and white mist no longer felt oppressive. No, it now felt like a celestial paradise that lifted the spirits and soothed the heart. He first gave Hua Caili a comforting look. Then, his eyes subconsciously strayed toward Shewu Yi as if drawn by an uncontrollable, invisible string.

Every time he reunited with her, she would undergo a slightly different change. It wasn’t until later that he learned that it was due to the gradual awakening of the Heart of Snow Glazed Glass and the growth and fusion with the Nine Profound Exquisite Body.

Once again, they had reunited, and once again she had changed. Her eyes and her body were now dimly glowing with a faint divine light that had not existed before. It was like a moon was permanently casting a beam of moonlight on her.

She had become so beautiful. The moon god that once visited his dreams when he was a youngster could not hope to compare to even a hair on her person. Looking back, his sixteen-year-old self had always needed to hide the sense of inferiority he couldn’t quite dispel completely with a facade of nonchalance. After that, he worked hard to prove that he was worthy of being her husband as well...

If the youngster he once was faced the current her, he wasn’t sure whether he could even muster the courage to look her in the eye.

Sensing the gaze of a man, Shenwu Yi abruptly turned in his direction and stabbed Yun Che’s eyes with a gaze that could only be described as a beautiful, glassy spike of coldness and heartlessness. It was a look that could chill anyone to the core.

And yet, Yun Che did not avoid her gaze. He even curled his lips into a small smile.

“Is that really her?”

It was at this moment that Li Suo’s voice rang inside his soul sea. She did not wish to break his dream, but she still chose to voice her doubts. “There is no emotion or sense of familiarity in her gaze whatsoever. Her eyes exist in a temperature that is devoid of any warmth.”

“Even you nearly lost control of your emotions when she suddenly appeared before your eyes. I cannot believe that she can conceal her emotions so perfectly after reuniting with you so suddenly and without warning.”

“Mm. You are right. But... that is her. My soul may break until only a fragment is left, and I still will not forget her or mistake her for someone else.”

He did not immediately deny her doubt. Instead, he explained in an even tone, “Right now, she is called Shenwu Yi (Without Memories). She probably lost her memories as the rumors claim.”

One of the rumors regarding the current Eternal Night Divine Daughter was that she had lost all her memories prior to becoming a Divine Daughter. It was possible that she had suffered some sort of injury and lost her memories as a result. However, even more people believed that the Lightless Divine Regent had stripped her of all memories and traces of her past to create a flawless Divine Daughter.

Yun Che recalled the words the Ancestral Will had said before she disappeared, “Now that the ‘Artifact of Fate’ is deceased, the Chain of Fate between the two of you has disappeared as well. There is no longer any reason for me to remain in this world. Starting today, I will return to my slumber in order to recover my lost origin power as soon as possible.”

She was born to be an Artifact of Fate. After the Chain of Fate between him and her had broken, the reason for her creation and the meaning of her existence had all come to an end as well.

In that case, was it possible that the life she led as the “Artifact of Fate” had disappeared alongside the completion of her “mission”? Was it possible that, after her past and memories were completely severed, she was restored as a wholly independent and free lifeform?

No... it doesn’t matter... it doesn’t matter what the truth is or whether or not you still remember... So long as you still exist, so long as you are still alive, then it is already the best outcome.

“The time doesn’t seem to fully match either.”

Li Suo was still voicing her doubts. When it came to Shenwu Yi, she was clearly the more rational one between the two of them.

“Xia Qingyue entered the Abyss four years earlier than you. Due to the effects of the Black Tide of Time, this means that forty years have passed since she entered the Abyss.”

“However, Shenwu Yi became the Eternal Night Divine Daughter two decades ago.”

“Therefore, she should be one sexagenary year when she became the Eternal Night Divine Daughter, not a half.”

“Shenwu Yi was a peak Divine Master twenty years ago. Her cultivation is identical to Xia Qingyue’s when she fell into the Abyss, at least. However, Xia Qingyue is the owner of the Nine Profound Exquisite Body. She does not have bottlenecks in her cultivation. There is no way she hasn’t broken through during the twenty years she lived in the Abyss...”

Li Suo did not want to agitate Yun Che, so she kept her words as slow and gentle as possible. But at the same time, she understood that there was no way Yun Che had not realized these inconsistencies already. They were so glaringly obvious that even she noticed them after all.

“Maybe... the rumors were wrong. Her age and cultivation when she became the Eternal Night Divine Daughter could be something else.”

Yun Che looked away from Shenwu Yi after a suitable time. He was still smiling, though. “I am aware of all of your concerns, but... it doesn’t matter at all.”

“The fact that she is still alive is better than everything... One day in the future, she can tell me herself what happened to her during those twenty blank years... one day.”

[1]

1. Translator’s Note: You wanna know what I think now?

I think Xia Qingyue is dead.

I think Shenwu Yi is her daughter. I think Xia Qingyue gave Shenwu Yi everything prior to her death.

No wonder Mars said that Xia Qingyue’s life is a tragedy. ☜