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 1037 - Buddha Divine Veins

The Blue Pole Star, Illusory Demon Realm.

“Sister Ling’er, come… come quickly! Little Aunt has fainted again!”

The sound of an anxious Number Seven Under Heaven transmitted from the sound transmission jade, causing Su Ling’er to immediately put down the medicine she was currently mixing as she hurriedly replied, “I’ll be right there.”

The Xiao Family, Floating Cloud City, Profound Sky Continent. Xiao Lingxi quietly laid atop a bed which was most comfortable and familiar to her. She had already awakened but her face was still covered with a mien of weakness. Su Ling’er currently grasped Xiao Lingxi’s wrist in her little hands. A couple of moments later, Su Ling’er’s fingers moved over Xiao Lingxi’s heart. The entire time, her brows were knitted together.

“Ling’er, I’m okay. It’s probably just that I’m not used to having Little Che not by my side.”

Seeing how the expressions of Xiao Lie and everyone else around her were so tense, Xiao Lingxi smiled and tried to comfort them.

Su Ling’er retracted her hands and then turned around as she faintly smiled and said towards Xiao Lie, “You can relax. There is no serious issue with Sister Lingxi’s physical condition, it is just some pure weakness.”

“Lingxi possesses profound energy and she is never doing anything that might harm her vitality, yet why does this happen time and time again…” It was clear that Su Ling’er’s words had not resolved Xiao Lie’s anxiousness as his expression still contained faint traces of panic.

“Heehee, in the past, I never believed in lovesickness. But after having seen the current conditions of Sister Lingxi, I have had to believe in it. After all, Sister Lingxi grew up with brother Yun Che by her side. Their feelings for each other would cause all to feel jealous.” In contrast to the despairing Xiao Lie, Su Ling’er was giggling. “Sister Lingxi, stop worrying so much. There is no way Brother Yun Che will need five years. Perhaps he will even suddenly show up tomorrow. But if he sees your current condition, he might just die from the pain emerging in his heart.”

“Grandfather, you heard Sister Ling’er. You don’t need to worry so much. I have believed that Little Aunt has been suffering from lovesickness this entire time. If my Brother Yun had suddenly left me and my child behind for so long, I would perhaps be in the same state as Little Aunt.”

As Number Seven Under Heaven finished speaking, she quietly whispered some words, which had been said hundred of times, under her breath, “But Big Brother Yun’s conscience is truly too lacking. For him to have truly left for so long without coming back, it must have been that… what’s the name… that God Realm with fairies everywhere. He must not want to leave.”

“Big Brother is not that kind of person,” Xiao Yun quietly responded to defend Yun Che.

“I will be okay after a little nap. You all truly do not need to worry. Also, please don’t tell Xue’er and the others.” As Xiao Lingxi spoke, some color had already returned to her face.

Xiao Lie’s expression had already calmed down by several levels as well as he said, “Alright then. I will leave you to rest. However, as the weather has become cold, you should not go out any time in the near future. As for Yun’er’s courtyard…”

“I shall take over the responsibility of cleaning it,” Su Ling’er immediately interrupted.

“Alright.” Xiao Lingxi quietly acknowledged Su Ling’er and then silently closed her eyes.

Upon exiting Xiao Lingxi’s room, the slight smile on Su Ling’er’s face abruptly disappeared and became replaced by an expression of deep anxiety. Through the teleportation formation, she left Floating Cloud City and returned to the Illusory Demon Realm. Afterwards, she immediately rushed to the side medicinal courtyard of the Yun Family. Upon entering, she immediately encountered Yun Gu walking towards her.

Seeing Su Ling’er’s expression, Yun Gu stopped as he asked, “Did that girl faint again?”

“Yes.” Su Ling’er nodded her head, “Her pulse was the same as before. For a short period after her loss of consciousness, it was abnormally fast, more than ten times faster than a normal person’s but it also quickly returned to normal. But this is already the ninth time over this last half a year. Master, do you not have any clues either?”

Yun Gu shook his head, “Although I do not know the cause, we should still consider ourselves fortunate that it isn’t harmful and isn’t worsening.”

Su Ling’er had learned from Yun Gu for half a year now and had heard him say before that the only pulse which he couldn’t read these last hundred years was Xiao Lingxi’s…

“The first day she abnormally fainted was the first day after Yun Che left. Perhaps it is truly related to Brother Yun Che. If he returns, perhaps… all will return to normal.”

Su Ling’er muttered to herself and then raised her head and looked up at the boundless sky above her as if hoping to catch a glimpse of the figure which pervaded her thoughts and dreams. “You two must be careful. Nothing must happen to either of you.”

Floating Cloud City. Xiao Lingxi had already long since fallen asleep on her bed but her sleep was not peaceful. Within her dreams, the black jade which had come from Yun Che once again appeared and released strange words she could understand yet had never seen before...

This same dream occurred every time she fainted.

She could feel within herself that the reason for her fainting was not Yun Che’s departure but her encounter with this piece of black jade.

Because of this black jade, it felt like something which had been deeply sleeping and repressed within the depths of her soul was beginning to silently wake up…

The Azure Cloud Continent, below Cloud’s End Cliff.

After blossoming, the Netherworld Udumbara Flower quickly withers away. However, the Netherworld Udumbara Flowers situated here seemed to be everlasting as their huge leaves and petals were covered with a dense, illusory netherworldly purple light which glowed amidst the complete darkness.

A silver haired young girl quietly stood amid this sea of Netherworld Udumbara Flowers. The density of the purple light made it opaque but it was unable to cover the colors shooting out from the pupils of the young girl. In the world of purple, dots of glimmering, various colored light appeared like stars.

The girl stared indifferently into the distance. Her eyes were abnormally beautiful due to the various colored lights but they were also completely devoid of emotion.

The only things around her were the sea of never-withering Netherworld Udumbara Flowers and the constant roars of demonic beasts from off in the distance.

Prolonged loneliness was one of the most cruel tortures for living creatures and especially so for humans, who had such a vast number of emotions. To them, loneliness was the greatest torment in the world. However, this girl had long since become accustomed to it. From the day she gained consciousness and formed memories, she had always faced this darkness, this glow of purple and this loneliness. Perhaps it had already been tens of thousands of years or hundreds of thousands or even millions…

Or perhaps… even tens of millions of years…

She did not know why she existed, she only knew that she existed…

————————————

Bang!

Ping!

The sound of ice exploding caused Yun Che’s eardrums to tremble as his figure flickered around like an illusion. The fluctuations of frost energy had disrupted his movements and trajectory of attack but he did not panic as he had not lost control and balance of his body. He furrowed his brows and his figure then flickered again as he charged back in, a frosty light tailing behind him, causing him to look like a meteor.

What was sensation?

If the extremity of spiritual sense was the ability to foresee and predict thoughts…

Then the extremity of physical sensation was the ability to foresee and predict movements of the body.

As the flow of air subtly changed, their spiritual senses and gazes turned towards each other as the expression in their eyes and their profound energy abruptly changed… from a distance, one depended on spiritual sense but at a close range, sensation could precede spiritual sense!

Sensation could be considered a mysterious and miraculous ability of the body which combined body and soul. It could not be cultivated or even explained and detailed. It could only be personally felt and comprehended.

Mu Xuanyin’s attacks were constantly able to hit him even after he shifted… thus, after tens of attacks, Yun Che was finally able to hazily perceive the concept of sensation during a clash.

On that same day, his Moon Splitting Cascade had also successfully reached the “Within Shadow” realm.

After that, he had finally completed Mu Xuanyin’s “assassination” scenario. Thus, Mu Xuanyin gradually began to increase the number of times she would attack from one time… to two… to three… to four…

So far, Yun Che had only been able to withstand six strikes before becoming unable to remain standing.

Even though he was somewhat in a tragic situation, as Yun Che continuously shifted, he managed to arrive within five steps of Mu Xuanyin. A glint of light flashed through his eyes as the Heaven Smiting Sword suddenly flew out from his hand… but at that same instant, he felt a subtle feeling emanate from the left side of his body. Without any hesitation or thought, his entire body instinctively flipped through the air.

A muffled sound and a cold chill swept across the left side of his body. Although it had not hit him dead center, it was still enough to cause his body to lose its balance. At this moment, Yun Che’s two arms rapidly opened.

“Sealing Cloud Locking Sun!”

Bang!

Enveloped by the Heretic God barrier, Yun Che was sent flying as an icicle emerged from the void behind him and struck at him. With another strike, the icicle pierced through his Heretic God barrier… but at the last instant, Yun Che was able to slightly avoid its tip. Nonetheless, it still fiercely pierced into his left shoulder.

The icicle firmly embedded itself within his shoulder joint before abruptly bursting, causing Yun Che to instantly lose feeling in the entire left side of his body due to the chill. His crooked body smashed into the ground as the Heaven Smiting Sword which he had thrown out earlier returned to him and landed beside him on the ground.

Yun Che climbed to his knees with difficulty. As the left side of his body gradually regained feeling, a nightmarish pain began to spread through it. Yun Che grit his teeth and tightly bit down. Nonetheless, even amidst such pain, he was able to reveal a smile of satisfaction, “Disciple… is already… able to receive seven moves from master.”

“Hmph, you are still greatly lacking!”

As Mu Xuanyin said these stern and cold words, she lightly tapped Yun Che with her finger. A little dot of blue light abruptly exploded right in front of Yun Che’s chest—in that moment, all of the meridians in Yun Che’s body were snapped.

Only Mu Xuanyin herself knew this but it had taken several times more profound energy to destroy the meridians in Yun Che’s body this time when compared to the very first time.

As for the pain and suffering from having meridians destroyed, it had also increased by that amount.

Yun Che’s pupils abruptly shrank as the blood vessels within his body all burst, causing all of the veins in his skin and muscle to become completely distorted.

This kind of extreme pain, which originated from every single point on the body, tempered Yun Che’s sensation and also helped polish his mental strength. However, it caused him to feel as if he had fallen into the purgatory of hell as his entire body curled up into fetal position. But outside of the initial screams, no more escaped his throat… and it was not because he had fainted from the pain like the previous times.

A blue light flashed through Mu Xuanyin’s eyes and into Yun Che’s eyes, which had lost all color.

Nzzz——

Yun Che’s mind suddenly rumbled as his consciousness collapsed and he fainted.

“Since it is the last time and since you already know what sensation is, I shall let you suffer less.”

Picking up Yun Che, Mu Xuanyin returned to the Sacred Hall.

Amidst the rippling pond of water, the once proud eighty-one-petalled Buddha Heart Lotus of Nine Resurrections was at its last petal.

After Yun Che was thrown into the pond, Mu Xuanyin’s jade finger gently twirled the water, causing the final lotus petal to float onto her fingers. Atop the jade-like crystalline lotus root, there now only remained jade colored leaves.

The next time it bloomed would be nine thousand years later… or perhaps, it wouldn’t even be able to fully bloom again.

As Mu Xuanyin’s palm descended onto Yun Che’s chest and she used the last lotus petal, hints of complex emotions emerged in Mu Xuanyin’s eyes.

This brat’s comprehension abilities were truly unparallelled under the heavens. In such a short number of months, he had been able to cultivation Moon Splitting Cascade to great success and the Ice Phoenix God Investiture Canon to the “Frozen End God Sealing” realm.

As for the profound secrets of sensation which talented profound cultivators couldn’t touch upon with their spirit sense until after the Divine Tribulation Realm and entering the Divine Spirit Realm, and even gradually at that, Yun Che was able to… In just a short period of three months, he was able to grasp sensation to such an extent.

It was a pity that he had been born in a lower realm. If he had been born in the Snow Song Realm, then at this time, it was possible that his name would have already shaken the God Realm.

A blue glow illuminated the entire Sacred Hall as Mu Xuanyin used her Divine Master strength and the power within the Buddha Lotus to begin the last tempering of Yun Che’s meridians. It was the eighty first time that Mu Xuanyin had forcefully ruptured his veins and the eighty first time that his veins had reorganized and fused under this blue light. It was fast at times and slow at others but each of Yun Che’s meridians began to release light which emitted through his body, causing him to glow extremely brightly.

The Dragon God Marrow had toughened Yun Che’s bones to the extreme and allowed his Dragon God Bloodline to always be extremely thick and dense. Yet today, the meridians in his entire body were completely transformed through the brutal methods of Mu Xuanyin and the incredibly divine and mysterious energy of the Buddha Heart Lotus of Nine Resurrections.

When Yun Che regained his consciousness, he was already amidst the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake. However, the first moment he awoke, he could feel that the meridians within his entire body had undergone enormous changes.

He hurriedly gathered his soul and looked within himself. He discovered that his meridians were now several times thicker than they were three months ago and that each one of them had completely lost their previous forms as they were now much more crystalline and clear. It was as if the most pure crystals of ice were now located in each and every corner of his body.

With but a thought, profound energy began to circulate. However, the speed at which it circulated was so fast that Yun Che was still surprised even though he had long been prepared for it.

“Are these really… my meridians?” Having felt the circulation of profound energy through his meridians, Yun Che did not dare to believe his own senses.

Amidst the extreme excitement and disbelief, Yun Che picked up the Heaven Smiting Sword, his brows slanting as he shouted:

“Destroying Sky Decimating Earth!”

His profound energy roiled up and then exploded. The third skill of the Heretic God, Destroying Sky Decimating Earth, boasted great consumption of energy. Even in the state of Purgatory where his mental energy was adequately concentrated, he would still need to gather profound energy for two breaths. Yet this time, just half a breath later, the destructive power was already ready to be released. With the swing of his Heaven Smiting Sword, a violent and destructive power abruptly exploded outwards.

Boom!

An explosion caused the entire area to tremble as waves appeared atop the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake. It was followed by a second “Destroying Sky Decimating Earth” moments later…

Boom!

The surface of the lake directly tore open as droplets of the heavenly lake’s water rained down onto Yun Che. Yun Che gripped the Heaven Smiting Sword with both hands as he floated in midair, his pupils violently trembling.

Although the power of “Destroying Heaven Decimating Earth” was extremely great, he had not used it much in the past because it took too long to gather the energy for it. It once had too great of a flaw. Moreover, after it was used, he would experience a long period of time where he would be unable to control his power. Thus, if the attack didn’t connect or if it was blocked by his opponent, there would be extremely serious consequences.

But now, he could gather energy in the time it took to raise his sword. Moreover, after expending it all, it only took a moment before he was able to once again prepare the energy for a second Destroying Heaven Decimating Earth, one which was no weaker than the first one…

It truly felt as if he was experiencing some kind of magical dream. His current state was something that he had never once imagined before.

His profound energy was still at the first level of the Divine Origin Realm with no signs of increasing.

But with the changes to his meridians, he clearly felt that he was currently residing in a completely different realm he resided in himself three months ago.

If his current self were to fight against his past self from a month ago, it would be a piece of cake!

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