Against the Gods

NEW NOVEL: First and foremost, I'm delighted to announce that our long-time veteran translator littleshanks has finally launched his new novel, Rise!  Rise is a novel about the esports scene in Shanghai, the competitive gaming capital of China. It follows the story of Lin Feng, a boy who has just moved to the city for his last year of high school. He's a passionate gamer and dreams of being the best professional League of Legends player in the world. The twist? He almost achieved his dream, but failed at the...

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Chapter 1035 – Buddha Heart Lotus of Nine Resurrections

Heavenly Netherfrost Lake.

The water of Heavenly Lake was still as a bright mirror and only ice spirits could be seen dancing around, sometimes slow and other times in a nimble motion. On the shore of the lake, Mu Xuanyin and Yun Che were standing facing each other with some distance between them. Although both of them were dressed in snow-white robes, Yun Che’s might and existence seemed insignificant before the aura that was being silently emitted by Mu Xuanyin.

Yesterday was the last time for rest and reorganization and today, was the beginning of hard training.

“Let Master have a look at your peak condition. There is no need to hold back your abilities.”

The moment Yun Che heard Mu Xuanyin’s words, profound energy suddenly erupted from his body and Heretic God’s Gates were instantly opened in succession—Heretic Soul—Burning Heart—Purgatory. His profound aura turned from colorless to pale red and after a brief period, it forcibly broke through the shackles with a loud rumble, as it experienced a qualitative change and the color turned as scarlet as fresh blood. His originally calm and stable profound energy abruptly became agitated, like a savage beast that had been infuriated.

Similar agitation could be seen in Yun Che’s eyes.

Mu Xuanyin slightly raised her brows as she said indifferently, “Attack.”

“Haah!!”

Yun Che let out a loud roar. He took out the Heaven Smiting Sword and the profound energy that was running wild within his body crazily gushed over the blade. Golden Crow Flames and Phoenix Flames began burning at the same time as flaming sword beam more than ten meters long shot out from the Heaven Smiting Sword. Then, he unleashed “Destroying Heaven Decimating Earth” in Mu Xuanyin’s direction, while howling at the top of his lungs.

The airflow of the Heavenly Lake was thrown into disorder, scaring the ice spirits who flew away at quite a fast speed. Yun Che appeared like a volcano shooting up its contents without any previous sign… However, when the Heaven Smiting Sword was still more than thirty meters away from reaching Mu Xuanyin, the storm of his greatly boosted and terrifying profound strength disappeared without any trace in the blink of an eye.

Yun Che’s body as well as his sword were restrained in the air. It seemed as though the greatly boosted power within him had been completely sucked away by an invisible black hole. There was just nothing of it left in him and he couldn’t even hear the least bit sound of his previously surging power.

In front of him was Mu Xuanyin quietly standing in place. Her eyes had a deep and chilly look in them and her snow-white robe gave off a calm and desolate feeling. She hadn’t moved so much as a muscle the whole time and didn’t release the least bit of her profound energy, either.

Yun Che fell down from the air with a stupefied expression on his face and then stared blankly at her for a good while.

His peak strength before Mu Xuanyin was truly like a grain of salt before a sea. It couldn’t even be considered low and petty in comparison, as the difference between the two was unimaginably huge.

“Not bad.”

There was simply no change in the look of Mu Xuanyin’s eyes but she favorably appraised his strength. Afterwards, she slowly lifted her right hand.

Still in a daze, Yun Che sensed a fatal danger all of a sudden. His body instinctively reacted and instantly moved away from the place by employing Star God’s Broken Shadow. But five cold streaks of light, that he couldn’t notice with naked eyes, shot out of the void towards him and struck directly on his real body that had retreated just a second ago. There wasn’t even one of them that targeted his five illusory images.

Pfft!

Although the five cold streaks of light immediately came to a halt after coming in contact with his body and subsequently dissipated, Yun Che’s heart spasmed for a while as cold sweat completely drenched him. The reason was none other than the fact that any one of those streaks was enough to put him to death.

The cold energy had already made contact with his body by the time he sensed it approaching—and it was even after he used Star Gods Broken Shadow to flash out of its way.

Yun Che let out a long breath as he raised his head but Mu Xuanyin was no longer present in front of him. He quickly turned around as his gaze swept over the surroundings but he didn’t catch sight of even her shadow. When his gaze once more returned to the front, he actually saw Mu Xuanyin before his eyes, standing less than ten steps away.

“The abundance of your profound energy far surpasses practitioners of same level and its explosiveness is satisfactory. This should be due to the power of the Heretic God,” Mu Xuanyin coldly said, staring at Yun Che’s eyes. “But you are severely lacking the most important thing, sensation.”

“Sensation?” Yun Che blanked for a moment.

“Follow me to a place.”

Mu Xuanyin lightly swept out her palm, causing the space ahead to tear apart without a sound. Before Yun Che could react to it, his body was sucked into the crack in space.

For an instant, his vision turned blurred and bright and then he found himself in another world.

The lower altitude was completely covered in fog, which was incomparably pale in color as well as dense. It was impossible for an ordinary fog to obstruct Yun Che’s line of sight but he couldn’t even see the things three hundred meters away due to the presence of the dense fog. Upon exerting his all power to look into the distance, he could barely make out snow-covered mountains of various heights.

There was also a huge sealing profound formation less than thirty meters from him emitting a cold shine like ice-crystals.

“This place is called the Mist End Valley, where the disciples who make big mistakes are sent to be disciplined. If a disciple commits an unforgivable sin, they are thrown into this valley to let them perish on their own. Such disciples would always end up dying a very fast and miserable death, with no exceptions to this day.”

It was obviously not possible for the cold energy here to be as threatening as the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake but the whistling chilly wind blowing in the place carried a heart-palpating eeriness.

Yun Che’s heart thumped loudly. He asked in a probing tone, “Master, don’t tell me you brought the disciple here to…”

Since it was called the “Valley of Death,” there was naturally something amiss about the place.

“A large number of profound beasts are born in the Mist End Valley but they are completely different from those you have seen in the Ice Phoenix Region. The profound beasts that are born in an environment like the Mist End Valley are basically all incomparably brutal in nature. They don’t even hesitate to slaughter their own kind, to say nothing of beings of other species. Every profound beast you come across in the valley will go after your life right away. The weakest of them is at the same level as the Winterfrost Direwolf you have seen and the strongest ones are comparable to the profound practitioners of in the Divine Tribulation Realm.”

“…” Yun Che’s eyes revealed a shocked look. Listening up to here, he had already guessed Mu Xuanyin’s intention behind bringing him to the place.

“In addition, the ones you’ll be confronting are not only the profound beasts. There are also some former Ice Phoenix disciples in there, who have been sent inside not that long ago and are still alive even after facing the constant assault of the brutal profound beasts. The disciples who can survive in such a condition should at least the early to mid stage of the Divine Soul Realm. Even those at the Divine Tribulation Realm will be present among them. As a group of people who are bound to die, sooner or later, they wouldn’t spare any means to live on as long as possible. Hence, they are far more fearsome than the brutal profound beasts. If you were to face any of them head-on, you would die beyond a shadow of a doubt.”

“Master, could it be that you want this disciple to… enter the Mist End Valley to gain experience and train?” Yun Che asked in quite an apprehensive tone.

“Correct. But that is for later. If I were to throw you in there right now, you would only meet a tragic end, within seven and a half minutes.”

Yun Che heaved a heavy sigh of relief at her words but such a reaction was absolutely not because of him being a coward. Hearing Mu Xuanyin’s description of the Mist End Valley, he fully understood that it would be no different from having a death wish, if he were to enter the valley with his current strength.

“Master gives you six months,” Mu Xuanyin said in a cold voice. “Six months from now, Master will throw you into the Mist End Valley. If you don’t want to die too fast in there or wish to come out alive, then practice well during these six months, without slacking for even a second.”

She paused for a bit before her tone suddenly became cold and emotionless, “You won’t get the opportunity to slack anyways.”

“Six months?”

After practicing the profound power up to the Divine Origin Realm, he clearly felt the considerable difficulty in raising his profound power of divine way. Even though he had been practicing all this time, the strength of his profound power was still almost the same as when he had just broken through to the Divine Origin Realm. It was unknown whether he could even have a breakthrough to the second level of the Divine Origin Realm in the six months and even if he could… it would still be no different from having a death wish to enter the danger-filled Mist End Valley, due to the presence of the many Divine Soul Realm and even Divine Tribulation Realm brutal beasts as well as profound practitioners.

Yun Che raised his head, wanting to say something. But when he met Mu Xuanyin’s eyes, his entire body felt a shiver coursing through it. Eventually, he didn’t say a word and lowered his head, “Understood. Disciple will spare no effort.”

“Given your comprehension ability, it is unnecessary for me to teach you the Ice Phoenix God Investiture Canon. You can comprehend it on your own. During this six months period, I permit you to enter the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake whenever you want. But every noon, you need to return to the Sacred Hall, so you can spar with me.”

“Ah? Spar… with Master?” Yun Che leapt up in fright.

Although sparring with an expert would help in upgrading one’s profound way, the difference of levels between him and Mu Xuanyin was simply too enormous. Him facing a person of her strength, didn’t deserve to be labeled with the word “spar.”

“Hmph!”

Amidst the sound of her snort, Mu Xuanyin grabbed his arm and a tear appeared in space again. Yun Che’s vision became blurred and he was back in the Sacred Hall in the next moment.

Mu Xuanyin slowly stretched out her jade-white palm. The aura on her body disappeared at an extremely rapid pace, so much so that it was impossible for Yun Che to sense her existence.

“Master will suppress her profound strength to the Divine Soul Realm. But, even if my profound power can be suppressed, nothing can be done about my consciousness and sensation. Do you understand me?”

Yun Che nodded his head as he secretly took a breath. With incomparable cautiousness, he assumed a stance, not daring to say another word.

Sparring with a person at the Divine Master Realm… Much less him, even the Realm Kings of lower and mid star realms wouldn’t dare to think of it.

“During our spar every day, I will only launch a total of ten attacks. If you can successfully resist or evade the attacks or perhaps touch Master before the end of the ten attacks or force me back even half a step, then you will be considered the victor. And if not… you will know the consequences soon.”

Her bone-piercing cold voice and eyes made Yun Che feel as though his heart had been firmly clutched. He had an extremely terrifying premonition.

“If you can’t win even once in these six months, you can forget about going to the Eternal Heaven God Realm. Master will also no longer waste her mental and physical effort on trash that is bound to die in the Mist End Valley.”

Immediately, Yun Che felt as if his nerves were pricked with a needle. He furrowed his brows and his eyes seemed to have turned into cold stars. He slightly gritted his teeth, “Disciple will… make sure not to disappoint Master.”

“It would be for the best.”

A snowflake lightly drifted through the air as it fell on Mu Xuanyin’s fingertip. Then, she gently pushed the finger forward, making the snowflake fly towards Yun Che, as if it was being carried by a breeze.

The cold aura contained in the snowflake made him at once feel a suffocating oppressive power drawing near him. If not for the fact that he had seen it personally, who would’ve thought that a fragment of snow could change into something so horrifying.

Yun Che’s reaction could be considered extremely fast. In a flash, the Heaven Smiting Sword appeared in his hand and its whole blade burned with flames. Then, he thrust forth with all he had, to counter the snowflake drifting in the air.

His biggest strength lay in the use of Heavy Sword to directly release an explosive power. Back in the Profound Sky Continent, it was precisely due to this move that he could flatten mountains and split oceans.

When the snowflake came even closer, his whole-hearted attack was thoroughly destroyed in an instant. The extremely thin snowflake tore through the storm generated by the heavy wword and hit right in his solar plexus, without pausing for even a split second during the entire process.

Yun Che turned pale in fear. Unable to bother about his body losing balance or the severe pain in his arms, profound aura erupted from his body once again, as he quickly released Sealing Cloud Locking Sun.

BANG!!!

Heretic God’s protection screen held for an instant before shattering with a loud explosion. A tremendous, ice-cold power heavily struck at his right arm.

“Ughah!”

Yun Che let out a miserable cry as the Heaven Smiting Sword slipped out of his hand. All the meridians in his right arm were snapped instantly, due to the eruption of the terrifying power that had struck his arm.

Yun Che staggered quite a few steps backwards. There were no bloodstains on his right arm and it wasn’t fractured either but it was very apparent that it was drooping down heavily.

Yun Che supported his right arm with his left hand. He had yet to stabilize his footing when his pupils shrank all of a sudden… Mu Xuanyin hadn’t paused her attacks even though he was in such a situation. She soon flipped over her palm lightly, causing the space in front of Yun Che to cave in suddenly…

BOOM————

Before he could even react, he felt as if a star had burst open in his body. The flood of a matchless terrifying energy gushed into him and spread to every corner and meridian within…

Without delay, all his meridians snapped and he felt dizzy as though someone had hit his head with a huge hammer.

Yun Che’s eyes lost their lustre right away, making him suddenly look like a puppet without a life force, as his body went stiff and didn’t show any reaction while falling down.

There were no bloodstains on his body or even a scar. But, the meridians throughout his body were in an utterly broken state.

Back when he was in the Blue Pole Star, he had also been heavily injured several times, due to getting involved in bitter battles. The backlash of Heretic God’s power had led to the collapse and breakdown of his meridians, with the most miserable instance being that time when close to half of his meridians were snapped… However, this was the first time that each and every meridian in his body was snapped.

There was no doubt that the profound power coursing through his meridians, had also completely leaked and dispersed outside.

The last thing he remembered was Mu Xuanyin being apparently present beside him. Her voice sounded obscure and indistinct, as if it was unreal or he was just dreaming but it was so devoid of emotions that he still felt chilled to the bone.

“Is it very painful? Then make sure that your body doesn’t forget the pain.”

Having all meridians snapped would absolutely be a hundred times more painful than all his bones being broken. Yun Che’s lips moved for a bit before he completely lost his consciousness. But his body was still convulsing due the extreme pain it was suffering from right now.

Looking at the unconscious Yun Che, there was only an indifferent expression on Mu Xuanyin’s face. She reached out her hand to lift his body and returned inside the Sacred Hall in a flash.

She was at the center of Sacred Hall, which was practically a world of ice. There was a pond at the central area of this icy world, that was only a bit over thirty square meters in area. The water of the pond was clear as a mirror and at its center was a snow lotus which was blooming proudly at this very moment.

This snow lotus was several times bigger than an ordinary one and every one of its overlapped petals was the size of a palm. It not only looked exceptionally pure, beautiful and flawless, it was also shining with a faint, blue and translucent light.

Its root stalk as well as the snow lotus itself, seemed to have been made of ice-crystals formed by the condensation of purified water. They were truly dazzling to the eye. At first glance, no one would think of it as something that had naturally grown and instead consider it an ice-crystal that had been carved in such a way.

Mu Xuanyin flung her arm, throwing Yun Che’s body into the water. Her gaze fell on the ice lotus at the center and her snow-like finger lightly pointed in its direction.

Immediately, a formless profound formation began to glow, which was set up around the snow lotus. Afterwards, it slowly dissipated, following the light movements of Mu Xuanyin’s finger.

“Hah…”

For some reason, Mu Xuanyin sighed lightly. She came to the edge of the pond and moved her finger in a circular motion. A petal of snow lotus flew out and fell into her palm. Then, she placed it on Yun Che’s chest to cover the injured area.

CLANG!!

A strong profound light the color of an azure sunset brightened the entire Sacred Hall. It was because Mu Xuanyin had channeled nearly seventy percent of her profound power in the extremely brief time of an instant. The highest level power in the Primal Chaos blended into the petal of the snow lotus before slowly permeating Yun Che’s body… The snow-white petal at once glowed with incomparably blinding white rays of light. Under the influence of the white rays, Yun Che’s body got wrapped in a brilliantly shining white layer. Subsequently, several streaks of faint white rays started to emanate from his body, which increasingly grew in number and spread throughout his body in no time.

The things releasing these white rays were actually the snapped meridians in his body.

Meanwhile, the white rays of the snow lotus petal became weaker and weaker. Ultimately, they completely disappeared as if they had atomized.

Mu Xuanyin quickly restrained her profound aura and also moved her palm away from his solar plexus. As for the white rays originating from within Yun Che’s meridians, that were none other than the rays of light that had permeated his body earlier, they were visibly and gradually connecting his meridians and merging with them…

By the time the white rays of light fully dissipated without a trace, Yun Che’s thoroughly snapped meridians had perfectly recovered; no damage was left at this point in time… Moreover, if one could see through his body, they would clearly notice that all his meridians were giving off a bizarre icy and magnificent luster.

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