Against the Gods

Chapter 2155 - Yun Che, Mo Su

Anyone else in Yun Che’s position would be on their knees with shock and terror right now, soul shaking so hard that they couldn’t even speak. However, Yun Che himself showed not even a hint of such emotions. He just kept looking straight at the Abyssal Monarch, eyes welling with a level of calm and darkness surpassing any and all people he had ever had an audience with.

“If I may ask a question.”

Yun Che did not try to answer or debate the Abyssal Monarch. Instead, he asked the highest being of this world a question, “If you were me, would you do everything in your power to create a future for your beloved, to hell with the methods and consequences?”

The air froze, and the space stilled. Even a person’s gaze was frozen by invisible power.

In an instant, the divine light in the Abyssal Monarch’s eyes thickened, and the unique, godly pressure that could cause all of heaven and earth to quake and all living beings to drop to their knees pressed down on Yun Che. “A mere child dares to question this lone one?”

The pressure felt like a sky avalanche. His bones threatened to shatter, and his soul threatened to snap at the seams. However, Yun Che’s eyes remained clear, and his soul sea bright. From the start until the end, he never stopped looking the Abyssal Monarch in the eye without shock, fear, or respect. There was only the miniature dot of enigma that refused to be deciphered.

It was the eyes of an equal. Something he had not seen for several million years.

Yun Che spoke up once more, and his expression and tone seemed to be dyed in an unpredictable haze, “I am not asking the Abyssal Monarch. I am asking...”

“Mo Su.”

Air, space, and gaze froze once more, but this time, the oceanic pressure of god did not pour down from above. Instead, it remained frozen for so long that time itself seemed to have come to a stop.

An indefinite amount of time later, the frozen world finally started moving once more. However, it seemed to be moving in reverse, carrying their mingled gazes all the way back to times long dead and gone.

“I will...”

His voice and answer seemed to come from an impossible distant time and space. “I only fear that I would not even get the chance to be unscrupulous.”

He addressed himself as “I”, not “the lone one”. The corners of Yun Che’s lips curled into a small smile. He had obtained the answer he wished for. The one standing in front of him was no longer just the supreme and untouchable Abyssal Monarch. Instead, He had recalled his previous identity and name—Mo Su.

Yun Che had rehearsed how he should act and speak before the Abyssal Monarch countless times. He had, in fact, reached a level where he thought it was near perfect. However, when Ni Xuan’s last memory fragment finally revealed its contents to him, all of his earlier efforts were ruined just like that.

That said, it was thanks to that memory fragment that he understood with total clarity exactly how he should present himself before the Abyssal Monarch. It was also the only way: Equality.

Unfortunately, he was already at the Pure Land by the time the memory fragment revealed itself. There simply wasn't enough time to craft the perfect emotions or rehearse his acting before the private meeting. So, the only thing he did during this exceedingly short time was to hypnotize himself again and again.

He told himself this: I am the possessor of the Heretic God’s profound veins and the successor of Ni Xuan... In other words, I am Ni Xuan and the Heretic God!

To Ni Xuan, to me, the old Mo Su was just a lost child... and the current Mo Su, without the shell of the Abyssal Monarch, was just a child lost in a deeper maze...

Therefore, as an equal, today’s “reunion” filled me with joy, lamentations, and worry...

He then channeled all these emotions—so complex that they could not be voiced—into his gaze.

“I knew it. You would surely give an answer like this.”

In Yun Che’s eyes, the Abyssal Monarch had given him the answer from the beginning.

If the Abyssal Monarch had not purposely bestowed upon him the punishment of devouring rage, the obstacles standing before his and Caili’s way could not have been dismantled as easily as they had been. Not only that, it had turned the people's scorn into direct respect.

The Abyssal Monarch wanted to see how much Yun Che loved Hua Caili. He also wanted to know if Yun Che was truly qualified to be “his” successor.

Yun Che’s voice slowly grew gentle, tinged with barely controlled emotion. “I finally met you, Mo Su... I bring with me my master’s last will.”

The Abyssal Monarch’s expression was as gloomy and indifferent as ever. However, no one knew that every word Yun Che said was plucking at the strings of his emotions and stirring waves in his soul sea. Yun Che’s last line especially struck his soul so hard that a clear crack had appeared on the eternal indifference worn by the Abyssal Monarch.

“Where... is your master right now?” His voice trembled for an instant.

Yun Che withdrew his smile and lowered his voice, “Master... passed away to eternity five years ago.”

Mo Su turned away from Yun Che and slowly lifted his head. A short while later, he asked again, “Where was your master all these years? And when did he come here?”

“The Endless Fog.”

Yun Che let out a sigh after the first answer. “It wasn’t until the day he passed away that he told me he had been lingering in the Endless Fog... for six hundred and seventy thousand years.”

At that moment, the Abyssal Monarch, who could have faced the collapse of heaven and earth without batting an eye... no, he was Mo Su right now... shook slightly. It was as if the number had punched right through the disguise he had maintained for millions of years.

“It really is him... it really is him...”

Staring at the emptiness ahead, Mo Su murmured again and again. His voice was slowly but surely shedding its original indifference and became drenched in sorrow.

“I should have known... I should have known...”

“Six hundred and seventy thousand years”

This was not a number Yun Che had fabricated based on the time the Heretic God had passed away. He had gotten it from the soul aura of the elemental seed he acquired from the Qilin God. It clearly informed him that six hundred and seventy thousand years had passed since he fell into the Abyss.

As expected, the time shook the Abyssal Monarch greatly. Mo Su mumbled soullessly while a million thoughts were racing in his head, “Six hundred and seventy thousand years ago, I happened to detect his aura and was beside myself with joy. However, I quickly discovered that it was just one of his elemental seeds, and it was swallowed by the Qilin God and attached to its soul crystal.”

“I spent several centuries searching for him after that, but I was unable to locate even his aura. So, I kept the Qilin God by my side and used it to cure my loneliness a little... Later, it committed a grave mistake that should have earned it the death sentence, but I could not bear to kill a creature bearing his aura. In the end, I simply exiled it.”

“I thought that only an elemental seed had fallen into the Abyss for whatever reason, but to think that it was him... that it really was him... to think I never knew; to think I gave up so early...”

Yun Che said softly, “You didn’t find him because Master didn’t want you to. He had been hiding in the Endless Fog all this time.”

“But... why??” He asked.

Yun Che stared at Mo Su’s side profile and said with a hint of pain, “He said he didn’t have the face to meet you.”

“Hah...”

Mo Su lost his voice for a moment before slowly shaking his head. Eyes piercing through the void, he said in a difficult voice that seemed to transcend time and space itself, “Big Brother Ni Xuan, you do not need to be this way. I have never blamed you, and I never will. Even considering all that had transpired, meeting you and becoming your brother remains the biggest fortune of my life.”

Yun Che took a moment to calm his rapid heartbeat before adding softly, “Master told me that he chose to jump into the Abyss of Nothingness after wrapping up everything he had to do in the other world. It was both to atone for his sins and to keep you company. However, he never thought that a whole new world would exist beneath the Abyss, and that you were still alive and calling yourself the Abyssal Monarch.”

“Master said he desired to meet you again, but he had too many reasons not to. Besides his terribly deep guilt and shame, he would not allow himself to interfere with your life and deviate you from your path any longer... no matter right or wrong, no matter where you’re headed.”

Mo Su was still staring blankly ahead and speaking in an all-too-distant voice, “Big Brother Ni Xuan... you were such a free and unfettered soul...”

Yun Che continued, “Master said that he was the freest and most unfettered soul in the world until he made a mistake with you, a mistake that could never be forgiven. If he hadn’t chosen to indulge and encourage you back then, if he had chosen to stop you, you would not have been executed by your own Father. You would not be trapped in this abyss of pain to this day.”

This explanation revealed that his “master” had told him many things from back in the day.

“It was because of this grave mistake that your Father passed away too soon, and the god race and the devil race went to war against each other. It eventually led to the end of that era... that is why Master said he no longer deserved the name ‘Creation God’. Instead, he called himself the ‘Heretic God’ and avoided the world since. He spent the rest of his life trapped in a quagmire of guilt, shame, and pain until the day he passed away.”

Mo Su slowly turned around and looked at Yun Che once more, but his eyes were no longer looking down on him like he had been doing for millions of years. It had changed subtly but surely.

“He... told you a lot.”

“Yes. He also gave me a lot.”

Yun Che raised his hand and summoned the elements of fire, ice, lightning, and wind in succession. “My master gave me his profound veins, so I share an affinity with all kinds of elements. He also gave me his phoenix flames, Golden Crow flames, and ice phoenix power... He even strengthened my body and gave me the blood of the Dragon God and the Dragon God Marrow.”

This was Ni Xuan they were talking about, the former Creation God of Elements. It made sense that he would possess these blessings of ancient gods even though they did not exist in the Abyss.

Yun Che clenched his fingers and summoned the withered yellow light of the qilin. “Before he passed away, he guided me to retrieve the lost elemental seed and restore the incomplete profound veins to perfection.”

“No wonder that secret realm had collapsed so unnaturally.”

Mo Su whispered, “It must have returned in joy after seeing its successor.”

Yun Che flipped his hand once more, and this time the image of a dull golden pagoda appeared in his hand. “This is the Great Way of the Buddha, my master had taught me when tempering my body. After I reached a certain level, he told me that you created it.”

“No.”

To Yun Che’s surprise, Mo Su refuted his statement. “It was a combined effort between him and me.”

Yun Che: “...?”

Mo Su looked at Yun Che with emotional eyes. “A long time ago, I explored countless worlds by his side, witnessing all sorts of beings of the vast cosmos and observing true goodness and hidden evils. One day, I suddenly experienced enlightenment beneath a pagoda in a mortal realm.”

“Although I was the one experiencing enlightenment, it was he who deciphered it for me and guided me. He taught me what the law of cause and effect in all existence is, what the Great Way of heaven and earth... even the fundamental stage of the Great Way of the Buddha was founded by him. Without it, there would not be the twelve Buddha stages that came after.”

Yun Che truly had no idea about this. In his opinion, it made sense that the Heretic God would be aware of a god art that had survived to the present, such as the Great Way of the Buddha. However, he didn’t know it had been co-created by him and Mo Su.

That said, Ni Xuan possessed a Creation God’s body and so did not need to practice the Great Way of the Buddha at all. Therefore, Ni Xuan was participating in the creation of the god art purely for Mo Su’s sake.

“I see.” Yun Che nodded sentimentally... and this time, it was completely genuine.

When a truth in a known field was mixed with a lie from an unknown field, then the lie would automatically become the truth. Without a doubt, Yun Che was dancing on a knife’s edge with every word he spouted.

“Was he the one who asked you to find me?” Mo Su asked.

“No.”

Yun Che shook his head without hesitation. “Although my master saved my life, took me as his disciple, and gave me everything I have today, he taught me multiple times that my life only belongs to myself. He told me to follow my heart and not be chained to the world, much less the will of others.”

“If I meet you, then it is just the product of fate and destiny. If not, there is no need to force it. His last will to me is that, if I happened to meet you after all, then I should tell you everything without reservation... he hoped that it would be able to alleviate your loneliness a little.”

“However, I had no idea that I hailed from one of the six Kingdoms of God, Dreamweaver. I also had no idea it would let me meet you so quickly. Perhaps fate really is guiding me to fulfill my master’s last will as soon as possible.”

“Now that I think about it...”

Despite facing the Abyssal Monarch, Yun Che actually crossed his arms and complained with aggrieved yet mirthful eyes, “You are the one who facilitated my meeting with Master, you know that?”

“Oh?” Mo Su expressed confusion.

“Ai.” Yun Che let out a quiet sigh. “A century ago, the reason I disappeared from the core region of the Dreamweaver Kingdom of God despite countless layers of protection is all thanks to the ‘Void Breaking Divine Jade’ you gave them.”

Mo Su: “...”

“The Void Breaking Divine Jade teleported me to the inner regions of the Endless Fog without any trace. If I hadn't run into Master, abyssal dust would have consumed my entire being long ago. So...”

He tilted his head and curled his lips into a disrespectful smile, “Fate truly is a wonderful thing, don’t you agree?”

For all the years he had lived in the Abyss, no one had ever acted this way before him. No one had ever made him feel such clear emotions that weren’t sorrow, either. The man before his eyes—his expression, his eyes, his speech... they were all overlapping and becoming closer and closer to Ni Xuan’s. It also stirred up a certain impulse that was only growing stronger over time.

He suddenly said Yun Che’s name, “Yun Che... meaning a will as ephemeral as the cloud, and a soul as clear as the water. It is a name he would come up with, all right.”

“Yun Che,” he said the name once more before dropping a question that would have stunned the entire Abyss if they knew about it. “Will you swear brotherhood with me?”

“...!!” Yun Che’s heart skipped a beat. All sorts of fearful and reverent responses nearly burst out of his throat on instinct.

However, he lowered his arms the next instant, looked at Mo Su with bright eyes, and tugged the corners of his mouth into a wide grin. Then, he declared, “Why not?”

Mo Su froze for a moment.

Then, he started laughing, “Hahahaha, hahahahaha!”

The laughter was followed by even more exhilarated laughter. Everyone knew that the Abyssal Monarch rarely showed any emotion on his face, and the rare smiles he wore contained not a hint of emotion in them whatsoever. Neither the abyssal knights nor the Divine Regents had ever seen such an Abyssal Monarch before.

“As expected of Big Brother Ni Xuan’s successor! You really are Big Brother Ni Xuan’s successor! Hahahaha!”

“If you were anyone else, they would have grown panicked and confused, afraid and anxious. They would be concerned about status, hierarchy, seniority, race, and clan... only Big Brother Ni Xuan... only Big Brother Ni Xuan’s successor...”

How long had it been since he last expressed his joys and sorrows so openly before anyone?

His gaze could not help but turn blurry, and he felt as if he was back in the past.

......

“My first instruction for you is to stop treating me like your teacher or your senior. Just address me as ‘big brother’.”

“Wha... huh? A-A-A-Absolutely not!”

“This is just your first instruction, and you’re going to disobey me already?”

“N-No, of course not! B-But the old come before the young, and status exists for a reason, not to mention that you are the senior I respect the most. How can I possibly address you in such a rude manner?”

“Status my ass. Anyway, if you can’t even let go of the shackles of seniority, then how can you possibly improve under my tutelage? You may take your leave.”

“Big... big brother...”

“Now we’re talking. Starting today, you and I will explore the world together, and we will treat each other like brothers with no secrets! It’s so much better than if we are senior and junior, master and disciple, don’t you agree?”

......

Right here and now, Yun Che truly took on the shadow of Ni Xuan.