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 1197 - Outcome

Nine Suns Heaven’s Fury was the ultimate flame in the Golden Crow’s Record of the Burning World. It could even be called the strongest and most destructive flame in the entire god realm.

Knowing extremely high level flame laws and having perfect control over the Golden Crow flames was just the start. The person in question must also be extremely smart and lucky to have a chance at learning Nine Suns Heaven’s Fury.

Not even Huo Rulie, the number one cultivator of the Golden Crow Sect was able to learn this technique.

But Yun Che...

He had defeated those in the Divine Spirit Realm at Divine Tribulation Realm, he possessed both the Ice Phoenix and the Golden Crow divine bloods, he knew the technique Profound Handle: God Manifestation, he even had two Manifest Gods of ice and fire… in comparison, it was surprisingly unsurprising that he had the ability to unleash this ultimate flame.

The sky was golden. Everyone including Lu Lengchuan was looking up at the legendary strongest divine flame and becoming absentminded for a very long time.

That being said, his Glowing Dragon's Sacred Barrier was slowly returning to normal.

Huo Rulie wasn’t exaggerating. Nine Suns Heaven’s Fury was the Golden Crow’s strongest power, so of course the requirements to unleash it were stringent. Not only must the user concentrate fully on the task, but they must gather their flame powers for a very long time… when Huo Poyun used Nine Suns Heaven’s Fury at Snow Song Realm, it had taken him fifteen breaths to charge up his power.

Huo Poyun could unleash his Nine Suns Heaven’s Fury because of the rules of the gamble that time. He didn’t need to worry about being interrupted.

However, in a real fight a powerful opponent would never allow an instant’s opening to go unpunished… much less one that was fifteen breaths long!

Nine Suns Heaven’s Fury was powerful, but logically speaking there was just no way it would be allowed to go off successfully on the Conferred God Stage.

That was why Yun Che’s choice looked like an unwise decision made under desperation’s spur.

The fire surrounding Yun Che grew more and more intense. Soon, his entire body was enveloped in golden flames. Although no visible change could be seen from the golden sun in the sky, its power was in fact skyrocketing at an incredible rate, seemingly without end.

The Shrouding Sky Realm King roared, “Interrupt him now, Lengchuan!”

Honorable Qu Hui abruptly turned around and shot a fierce, warning look at the Shrouding Sky Realm King.

Lu Lengchuan was already flying toward Yun Che. The warning was completely unnecessary because he was the closest person to Yun Che, and he wasn’t isolated by the Conferred God Stage’s barrier. He knew better than anyone present just how terrifying those flames were.

The moment he moved, the Ice Phoenix broke its long silence with a cry and swooped down at Lu Lengchuan. It fired an ice beam that looked as gorgeous as the rays of dawn at the north magnetic pole.

Kakakakakaka...

A dozen or so thick ice walls rose from the ground and blocked Lu Lengchuan’s path. At the same time, an icy mist appeared and sealed off Lu Lengchuan’s vision and spiritual perception. The instant Lu Lengchuan plunged into the mist, he lost track of Yun Che completely.

A bone deep chill penetrated Lu Lengchuan’s soul, but for some reason it didn’t insulate him from the rising heat. These two powers were supposed to cancel each other out, but somehow he felt like he was submerged in lava and trapped in an icy hell at the same time.

It was an incredibly bizarre and uncomfortable experience to say the least.

Despite his alarm, Lu Lengchuan didn’t fail to react immediately. He easily destroyed the ice walls with one horizontal sweep, but even more icy obstacles were already forming and blocking his way. Soon, they grew so big and numerous that it was apt to describe them as an icy fortress. Meanwhile, the icy mist continued to spread and seal off any chances of Lu Lengchuan detecting and advancing toward Yun Che.

“Yun Che is borrowing the Ice Phoenix’s power to stop Lu Lengchuan,” Mu Bingyun said.

“This… this is the power of the Ice Phoenix God Investiture Canon!” Mu Huanzhi whispered to himself. “The Golden Crow image could use the Golden Crow’s Record of the Burning World, the Ice Phoenix image could use the Ice Phoenix God Investiture Canon… How am I not comprehending this power at all despite surviving for over ten thousand years?”

“I told you, it’s a Manifest God, not a mere image!” Huo Rulie emphasized for the third time.

Huo Rulie had inherited the purest Golden Crow bloodline, so it was absolutely possible for him to cultivate the Golden Crow God Manifestation Art, “Golden Crow’s Descent” if he reached Divine Master Realm. It was the power he hoped to obtain even in his dreams, which was why he couldn’t stand others calling the Manifest God an “image” again and again.

Mu Bingyun was right. Yun Che had unleashed the Ice Phoenix Manifest God to hinder Lu Lengchuan.

Ten breaths was all he needed!

It was true that the Ice Phoenix was incomparable to the Golden Crow in terms of destructive power. However, the opposite was also true. The Ice Phoenix’s ability to defend and control the enemy far exceeded the Golden Crow’s!

Although the Ice Phoenix only had sixty percent of Yun Che’s power, and there was no way it could hinder Lu Lengchuan for long… delaying him for ten breaths was absolutely within the realms of possibility!

In order to complete Nine Suns Heaven’s Fury in the shortest amount of time, Yun Che went so far as to seal off all six of his senses to focus on his task. It meant that he couldn’t sense Lu Lengchuan even if the latter was just three steps away from him… It was a decision spurred by his trust in his Manifest God’s power, and a lack of any other choice.

The consciousness and combat instinct of a Profound Handle Manifest God came from the god soul, not Yun Che. Therefore, he didn’t need to spare it any attention at all.

Yun Che’s god soul was the soul fragment of a True God. Therefore, its combat instinct could only be far greater than Yun Che’s!

The chains of frosty obstacles turned into a giant ice barrier formation in just a few breaths. Lu Lengchuan couldn’t escape the ice barriers despite attacking again and again.

However, he wasn’t attacked at all during this period… obviously, the Ice Phoenix had decided to focus all of its efforts on defense.

Lu Lengchuan raised his eyebrows before concentrating his power into his spear. A dragon image suddenly appeared around the spear and let out a roar.

“Dragon Burst Spear!!”

A draconic roar shook the heavens, and yellow light shrouded the sky for an instant. The explosion of power took out nearly seventy percent of the icy mist and the ice barriers. Finally the ice barrier formation crumbled, and Lu Lengchuan was able to charge out of the icy mist. He looked to the front but couldn’t find Yun Che. When he turned around, he was shocked to find his opponent more than fifty kilometers away from him!

He had actually lost his direction while he was destroying the barriers inside the ice barrier formation!

Lu Lengchuan locked onto Yun Che once more, but he didn’t try to get near this time. Instead, he held his spear horizontally in front of him and enveloped the space one hundred and fifty kilometers around him with an aura.

“Not good!” Huo Rulie and the others felt their hearts clenching.

“Dragonstone Formation!”

After spending two breaths to gather his strength, a burst of dragonstone power erupted from the dragon image.

It was an explosion that enveloped the entire Conferred God Stage, so there was nowhere for Yun Che to dodge, especially since he was fully concentrated on his task. If the explosion affected him in any way at all, the channeling of Nine Suns Heaven’s Fury would definitely be cut short.

The Ice Phoenix flashed once in midair. A dozen or so ice barriers instantly sprang up around Yun Che as it circled above his head.

The power of an attack would be spread out if it was applied across a large area. The ice barriers crumbled one after another as the yellow light approached Yun Che, but by the time the eleventh layer fell apart so did the dragonstone power behind Lu Lengchuan’s attack. Not only was Yun Che completely unharmed, the attack hadn’t even ruffled his sleeves.

Suddenly, instead of creating more ice barriers around Yun Che, the Ice Phoenix switched directions and engulfed Lu Lengchuan in a gust of snow and ice during the short period he was depleated by his attack.

The airspace above Lu Lengchuan instantly turned white.

As the snowstorm raged, a giant blue ring appeared soundlessly where Lu Lengchuan stood. Then, the ring contracted and transformed the space Lu Lengchuan was in into an icyhell.

“Frozen End Heaven Sealing Formation!!” Every Snowsong Realm disciple yelled in unison.

“Dragonstone Formation” was an attack that was as big as it was exhausting, so Lu Lengchuan had to wait for a moment to recover his strength. The Ice Phoenix had seized this opening instantly to conjure the Frozen End Heaven Sealing Formation and bury him under a devastating, apocalyptic snowstorm.

Krakrakrakrakrakrak...

Ice swelled exponentially where Lu Lengchuan was. By the time the snowstorm had come to a stop, an iceberg over three hundred meters tall had spawned on the Conferred God Stage, reflecting the golden light of the Golden Crow flames. Surprisingly, its coolness wasn’t affected by the Golden Crow flame’s burning heat in the slightest.

“He… he’s sealed!!” Every Snow Song Realm disciple who was watching from the spectator’s stand or on a star tablet roared out in excitement.

“How did an Ice Phoenix image activate such a huge Frozen End Heaven Sealing Formation in an instant…” Mu Huanzhi wondered absentmindedly.

“It’s a Manifest God! A MANIFEST GOD!!” Huo Rulie shouted at him. He would’ve sat on the guy’s head if he could.

“Now Lu Lenhchuan won’t be able to escape the Divine Ice Phoenix Sect’s Frozen End Heaven Sealing Formation in a short time. To think that this Ice Phoenix would know how to entrap Lu Lengchuan the second he exposed a huge opening… this Manifest God doesn’t just have independent consciousness, it obviously possesses a high level of intellect as well,” Yan Juehai praised.

“But Lu Lengchuan still has three layers of Glowing Dragon's Sacred Barrier. Is the weakest first sun really enough to break through his defenses?” Yan Juehai voiced his worries.

“Look closer,” Huo Rulie said while staring at the sky.

Yan Juehai’s pupils abruptly shrank when he looked up again.

The golden light was so bright that it spread all the way to the horizon. One might even claim that the golden sun had become the center of the world, blazing with heat that couldn’t be touched directly.

It was near the edge of the fiery light that Yan Juehai saw a floating outline.

“There’s… there’s two suns!!”

It wasn’t one sun, but two suns overlapping each other!

At another corner of the Eternal Heaven Realm.

The sky above Huo Poyun was dyed a scarlet gold as well. Under a thick tree trunk, the young man stared at the two suns and felt their incredible heat brushing against his skin even from this distance. He turned absentminded for a very, very long time.

One breath… two breaths… three breaths… four breaths… five breaths...

Krak!!

A long crack appeared on the iceberg, followed by a sudden explosion. Still covered in ice, Lu Lengchuan finally escaped from the iceberg. There were clear frostbite marks on his body.

It took him five breaths to escape the Frozen End Heaven Sealing Formation. The moment he appeared, he immediately felt a terrifying aura pressing down from above.

"Oh no…" Shocked, Lu Lengchuan immediately locked onto Yun Che’s current position and gathered every ounce of his energy on the Skysplitter Spear as quickly as possible. Dragon roars reverberated through the air as the weapon glowed yellow. The Ice Phoenix was thrown out of his mind completely.

“Dragonhunt Kill!!”

Shhhhhh!!

Space itself seemed to be torn as an impossibly shrill cry pierced the air. Then, Lu Lengchuan threw the roaring Skysplitter Spear straight at Yun Che. The weapon travelled at the speed of a meteor.

Scree!!

A phoenix’s cry suppressed the dragon’s roar entirely. The Ice Phoenix Manifest God threw ice barriers and snowstorms at the Skysplitter Spear again and again.

Bang bang bang bang bang...

The ice barriers weakened the power behind the spear non-stop, and the snowstorms kept distorting its flight trajectory. However, the Manifest God only wielded sixty percent of Yun Che’s strength. It simply wasn’t strong enough to block Lu Lengchuan’s entire, concentrated power fully. Despite everything, the Skysplitter Spear made it through all the ice barriers and was about to collide with Yun Che.

Another phoenix cry rang out, and the Ice Phoenix suddenly appeared right in front of Yun Che.

“Moon… Moon Splitting Cascade!?” Mu Huanzhi was so shocked his jaw nearly hit the floor.

Bang!!!!

The Skysplitter Spear pierced right through the Ice Phoenix. The Manifest God dissipated into nothingness after a death cry.

Thanks to the Ice Phoenix’s efforts, the Skysplitter Spear’s power and flight speed were greatly decreased. Even its trajectory was distorted so much that it passed harmlessly by Yun Che; at least two hundred and fifty meters to the right.

Yun Che slowly opened his eyes.

Two suns shone golden in the air.

Lu Lengchuan stood still and ceased all attacks. There was no point in continuing because Nine Suns Heaven’s Fury had already been completed… Now, all Yun Che needed to do was to drop the suns on him with a single thought. He had no way of interrupting that.

Thanks to the Ice Phoenix, he had failed to even touch Yun Che’s sleeves for ten breaths.

The Conferred God Stage was completely silent. Everyone was staring at the suns in the sky. The Golden Crow Sect disciples in particular were shaking like they were looking up to a god.

In ancient legends, it was said that the Golden Crow’s fire came from the sun itself. Therefore, Nine Suns Heaven’s Fury was literally made up of the sun’s flame.

“He made it… he actually made it… he actually created two suns in just… ten breaths!?” Huo Rulie whispered like he was in a dream.

Despite standing on the Conferred God Stage and facing down one of the four God Children of the Eastern Region himself, Yun Che still managed to complete the Nine Suns Heaven’s Fury!

“This Yun Che boy… you can never judge him by common sense,” Yan Juehai praised.

Normally, the entire Golden Crow Sect would be alarmed that an outsider was wielding their unique bloodline and profound art. Right now though, Yan Juehai could only feel envy for Golden Crow Sect.

How gratifying and glorious would it be if the power shining on the Conferred God Stage right now was the Phoenix Sect’s World Illuminator Red Lotus?

Yun Che’s eyes were calm, but his breathing was heavy and his face was constantly twitching in pain.

He had poured every ounce of strength into this Nine Suns Heaven’s Fury. He hadn’t conserved even the slightest bit of power for himself.

If he still couldn’t beat Lu Lengchuan with this attack, then he had no choice but to submit himself to fate.

Although Yun Che was on the verge of losing control, he didn’t throw Nine Suns Heaven’s Fury at Lu Lengchuan immediately. The two combatants said nothing as they stared at each other. When Nine Suns Heaven’s Fury falls, whatever happens will be completely out of my control—that was what Yun Che’s eyes were telling Lu Lengchuan right now.

“...” Lu Lengchuan stretched out his arm and summoned the Skysplitter Spear back to him. Then, he raised the weapon high into the sky and covered himself in yellow light. A dense defensive aura surrounded him. “Come!”

Yun Che panted once, and fire suddenly erupted from his skin. The golden red sky above everyone’s heads suddenly crumbled as the two overlapping suns sank to the ground, straying away from one another in the process. The spectators cried out loudly.

“Aaaaaaahhh!”

The Conferred God Stage was isolated by a powerful barrier, so it was impossible for the powers occurring inside the barrier to affect anyone outside. However, more than half of the profound practitioners watching the battle still lost control over their own mouths when the sky collapsed, and the suns swelled abruptly before their very eyes.

Lu Lengchuan looked up as the terrifying aura approached him. He could hear his father roaring beside his ears, but he still chose to stay instead of escaping the Conferred God Stage. He roared. “HAH!!!!”

BOOM

There was a dull explosion, and the suns exploded so brightly that the entire sky was died completely red and gold. Everyone felt like they had just witnessed the explosion of two real suns.

Lu Lengchuan’s figure was completely devoured by the two suns. The entire Conferred God Stage had transformed into a golden world where only world ending golden flames could be seen. The sheer force of presence that was brimming from the arena was so scary that even Divine Kings were stunned beyond words.

“Sect master, the young master, he… he’s safe, right?”

“...” The Shrouding Sky Realm King was on his feet. His hands were clenched so tight that they were shaking ever so slightly.

“This… is the power of our Golden Crow Sect!” Every Golden Crow Sect member from the elders to the disciples was staring at the Conferred God Stage piously like they were witnessing a divine miracle.

Yun Che fell from a sky of golden flames. He was so spent that he couldn’t even get up on his feet. Unleashing Nine Suns Heaven’s Fury had worsened his injuries and pained him greatly, but finally, he could have a moment’s respite.

That was what he thought… until he suddenly sat up and stared down in a particular direction. His gaze slowly focused.

The terrifying golden flames burned for a very, very long time. If this wasn’t the Conferred God Stage, no one had any doubts that this whole area would burn down to nothingness.

A long time later, the golden flames gradually thinned and subsided. The two figures that were swallowed by the flames for a very long time slowly came into view.

Yun Che was sitting on the floor with a pale white face and bloody lip corners. The aura he was exuding was unbelievably weak.

In front of him, Lu Lengchuan was clinging to his spear in a half crouch. His head was bowed, and he wasn’t moving in the slightest. The three-layer Glowing Dragon's Sacred Barrier on his body was long gone, and his clothes, right down to his exposed skin, were completely burned. Some of the burn marks on his body were so deep that the crowds could see the bones inside.

His aura had also become very weak.

Weak, but it was a nightmare for Yun Che all the same.

Lu Lengchuan finally moved as the flames around him gradually subsided. He slowly stood up while holding the Skysplitter Spear.

Lu Lengchuan was burned so badly that he was completely unrecognizable, but he still managed to stand as straight as an arrow.

His aura was so weak that it was less than a tenth of a tenth, but he was still faring far, far better than Yun Che.

The long long silence was shattered by a cheer from the Shrouding Sky Realm’s seats. The Shrouding Sky Realm King let out a huge sigh of relief and collapsed on his seat, drenched in cold sweat from head to toe.

Everyone from the Snow Song Realm and the Flame God Realm fell silent and somber. Those spectators who were hoping for a miracle were just as quiet. In the end… Yun Che ultimately lost the battle.

“Sigh, it was so close. It was so, so close.” Huo Rulie closed his eyes and let out a long, bitter sigh.

Yun Che’s Nine Suns Heaven’s Fury was unleashed in a state of grievous injuries and near exhaustion. Lu Lengchuan couldn’t possibly have endured the attack otherwise.

“He could’ve won this. He should’ve used the Manifest God from the start,” Yan Juehai said while looking up. At the beginning, he hadn't believed that Yun Che could defeat Lu Lengchuan at all. But now, he simply couldn’t find it in himself to accept this result.

Yun Che pushed the ground with his hands and slowly, very slowly climbed to his feet.

Right now, he was as weak as a child. Simply standing on his two feet had taken everything he had. Lu Lengchuan might appear to be as weak as he was, but in reality it would take only an instant for his opponent to defeat him.

The result was set. He had poured every bit of power into the fight without saving anything, and this was the final outcome. Acceptance was the only path left for him… no matter how much reluctance he felt.

Lu Lengchuan stared straight at him, but for some reason he didn’t send Yun Che away from the stage. Instead, his gaze wavered as if he was struggling with something.

Suddenly, Lu Lengchuan’s eyes turned peaceful as he smiled at Yun Che.

The Skysplitter Spear vanished from his hands, and he turned around to face Honorable Qu Hui. “I surrender.”

The two indifferently spoken words stunned everyone so much that they almost thought that their ears had gone awry.

Yun Che, “... ??”

“What did you say…? Did you just ask to surrender?” Honorable Qu Hui frowned. “You have the absolute advantage right now, so why have you asked to surrender?”

Lu Lengchuan shot a glance at Yun Che before saying seriously, “I am Lu Lengchuan, a son of Shrouding Sky, and I have lived my entire life proud and deserving, but in this fight… I don’t deserve victory.”

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