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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The Northern Divine Region, the smallest geographical region among the four regions. It was only about half the size of the Eastern Divine Region, and one-fifth the size of the Western Divine Region.

If the God Realm were to be divided into ten parts, the area that comprised the Northern Divine Region would only make up one of these parts.

Thus, it was natural that they had the least number of star regions as well. Even so, because the yin energy in the Primal Chaos was continuously dissipating, the territory of the Northern Divine Region was constantly shrinking. 

The understanding Yun Che had of the Northern Divine Region was limited to the notions of “land of the devils” and “devil region”, and he knew practically nothing else about it. However, this completely foreign world had become the only place he could dwell in right now. Because of the Primal Chaos’ yin energy that blanketed the entire Northern Divine Region… which was also known to the rest of the world as darkness devil energy, no one from the other three divine regions was ever willing to approach it or venture into it.

However, it was not only because they did not want their lifespan and profound strength to be eroded away by darkness devil energy. It was also because the “devils” viewed them as enemies, just like they viewed the “devils” as enemies. Furthermore, this was the devil’s home ground and within this Primal Chaos yin energy, they could display the full might of their darkness profound energy while the strength of the profound practitioners from the other three divine regions would be greatly suppressed. The moment these profound practitioners were discovered, their fates would be no different from when a devil who was traveling outside the Northern Divine Region was discovered by the profound practitioners of the other three divine regions.

After he entered the Northern Devil Region, the darkness devil energy in this place did not give Yun Che any discomfort at all. It did not affect his body, profound veins, or mind. As he moved within the ever-present darkness and silence, he even felt a sort of strange comfort and his heart was also colder and clearer than it had ever been before.

A strange world, a land which was completely unfamiliar to him. Furthermore, he did not know a single person here and he was truly all alone in the world right now.

Yun Che did not stop after he entered the Northern Divine Region. Instead, he continued to delve deeper and deeper. It had to be said that the three divine regions were pursuing him with mad fervor but their search had not yielded any results, so it was possible that members of the king realms would step into the Northern Divine Region to search for him… but even members of the king realms would not go further than the outskirts of the Northern Divine Region, there was practically zero chance that they would infiltrate deeply. As such, he did his best to go as deep as possible into the Northern Region.

He needed to preserve his own life… To the current him, there was nothing more important than that!

He traveled through one star realm after another, passing through one star region after the next. Life in the Northern Divine Region entered his gloomy eyes, one scene after the other.

The environment of the Northern Divine Region was completely different from the environment of the Eastern Divine Region. This place was filled with death and darkness and it was hard to see the light of a sun or moon. Combat and death was the one constant in this place, combat between darkness profound beasts and between profound practitioners… In the Eastern Divine Region, conflicts were normally due to benefits or grievances, but in this place, conflict was for the sake of survival.

That was right. To survive.

In this dark and cruel world, only the strong survived. The reason they could become stronger was because they were willing to do anything and everything to get stronger. They would put their lives on the line for those extremely limited resources and they left corpses strewn in their wakes.

Yun Che calmly and indifferently observed all of these things happen around him.

As he delved deeper into the region, the darkness devil energy was clearly becoming denser and purer and the level of the star realms was also rising. Finally, after another month had passed, Yun Che came across his first middle star realm in the Northern Divine Region.

He did not know where in the Northern Divine Region he currently was, nor did he know the name of the star realm he was in.

Even though this was a middle star realm, there were exceptionally few living creatures in it. Even when he traveled through the dark forest, he still could not sense any signs of life.

Yun Che had unknowingly arrived at an isolated and wild mountain range. There were more darkness profound beasts here and many pairs of bloodthirsty eyes stared at him from within the darkness… However, when these crazed and violent gazes came into contact with Yun Che’s indifferent one, they immediately started to shake. After that, they began to slowly retreat before they started to flee in panic and they did not stop until they had run very far away.

RIP!

A horrifying tearing sound rang in the air. It was the sound of sharp claws cutting through the air as a huge eagle of darkness that was three hundred meters long flew over Yun Che’s head. Its sharp claws flickered with a soul-piercing cold light as they lunged forward and grabbed up one of the desperately fleeing darkness profound beasts before it flew off into the distant north.

Yun Che’s feet came to a halt at this moment. He walked to a withered tree in front of him and then sat on the ground. He closed his eyes without erecting a barrier. Very quickly, his breathing had grown calm and gentle… In his heart, the darkness profound formation that Jie Yuan had left inside of him before she departed shone with a gloomy light.  

After that gloomy light was released, Jie Yuan’s figure appeared inside Yun Che’s soul.

She looked at Yun Che and it was as if she was standing in front of him.

“Heh,” she gave a low and emotionless chuckle that sounded both mocking and sorrowful at the same time. “In the end, you still activated the devil mark that I left behind. It looks like you’ve finally been forced into a corner.”

However, she had never imagined that this devil mark had been activated by Yun Che’s extreme rage and malice only a few moments after she had left the Primal Chaos. 

Even though the activation of this devil mark had exposed his darkness profound energy in front of everyone, giving the three divine regions a proper reason to exterminate him. However, given the attitudes the three number one god emperors had towards him, even if they were not conveniently given this reason, they would still be able to find some other reason. The activation of this devil mark only brought all of these events forward.

“The darkness profound art 【Eternal Calamity of Darkness】is sealed within this devil mark. It was not the core profound art of my Heaven Smiting Devil Clan. Rather, it was a profound art that was unique to me alone, and my clansmen were not able to cultivate it. Even Ni Xuan, whose connection to and ability to control darkness profound energy was superior to mine, was not able to cultivate it.”

“But if it’s you, then there’s definitely a chance that you can do it.”

She did not mention why she said that.

“You have Ni Xuan’s profound veins, so you have an extremely close connection to and extreme control over darkness profound energy. As a result, the Eternal Calamity of Darkness, which would allow another person to scale the heavens in a single step, will only provide an extremely limited boost to your strength. Furthermore, its might is far inferior to the Devil God Forbidden Tome that Ni Xuan and I created together… which you also know as the Heretic God Arts.”

“However, if you can perfectly control and use the Eternal Calamity of Darkness, you will definitely be able… to have complete control of all the devils of the current age!”

“You will become the true… and only emperor among the devils!”

This was a memory left behind by Jie Yuan and every word was coming from her own mouth so they could not be doubted.

“Other than the Eternal Calamity of Darkness, all the devil arts I have cultivated in my life are also within the devil mark. You may choose to cultivate them as you please!”

How strong and complicated could all the arts a Devil Emperor had cultivated in her lifetime be? To any other person, cultivating even one of these arts would be something that would be hard to accomplish even if they tried for their entire lives, but she had left all of them behind for him… Because she knew even better than Yun Che just what kind of freak he was.

A freak that even surpassed the Heretic God Ni Xuan!

“There are also three drops of my devil origin blood, they can strengthen your devilish body and soul. If you urgently desire to raise the level of your cultivation within a short period of time, then refining them will also be able to greatly boost the cultivation level of your profound way. However, it is best that you don’t do such a thing.”

“Even though refining them will allow you to scale the heavens in a single step, slowly and perfectly combining these drops of origin blood with your body will allow you to obtain future benefits that are a hundred times better than the former. The lower your cultivation in the profound way is, the more your body and profound veins will be refined and upgraded by merging with these drops of origin blood. So, for the coming period of time, you actually need to suppress your cultivation as much as possible and I trust that you understand every single word I am telling you right now."

The soul voice that Jie Yuan had left behind spoke in a very meticulous and detailed fashion. Even though she had always acted exceptionally cold and indifferent toward Yun Che whenever they met, the truth was that she always had a special concern for him. Perhaps it was because of the Heretic God Ni Xuan, or perhaps it was because of Hong’er and You’er.

“The origin of darkness profound energy is the Primal Chaos’ yin energy, so the【Eternal Calamity of Darkness】is also an extreme yin profound art. My devil origin blood is also an extremely yin blood, so both of these things are more suited for women. As a result, if you desire to swiftly cultivate the Eternal Calamity of Darkness, you need to find an exceptional woman and use her as your cultivation incubator. Out of these three drops of extremely yin origin blood, using two drops will be the absolute limit of what you can endure, so the third drop is for the incubator to use!”

“This woman needs to have her vital yin intact and she also needs to have an extremely high comprehension of the profound way and extremely good control of profound energy. The most important thing is that she needs to possess extremely refined and pure profound energy! If you are able to find such a woman, it would be best to directly cripple her or allow her to get rid of all of her profound arts, leaving behind only the most refined and purest original profound energy. In the end, what she will obtain will be countless times greater than what she will lose!”

As he closed his eyes, Yun Che slowly raised a hand in the air. Three pitch black droplets of blood floated above his palm. These three blood droplets flickered with a gloomy black light and even though the light was not strong, it caused the surrounding area to darken dramatically.

He opened his eyes and three extremely deep and dark specks of light were reflected in his eyes. Without any hesitation, he fiercely pressed two of these blood droplets against his chest.

The moment they came into contact with his body, these two dark blood droplets entered his body without any resistance, like mercury flowing over the ground.

Bzzz!

As a bizarre muffled ringing sound that was hard to describe resounded in the air, a dense and chaotic layer of dark mist suddenly burst out of Yun Che’s body. His eyes were also releasing two incomparably gloomy black lights… as if they had transformed into two dark abysses which would swallow up everything.

This was no ordinary blood, but the blood essence of a Devil Emperor!

If it were to directly enter the body of any other person, even if that person was one of the current god emperors of the king realms, they would be devoured and rent apart by the incomparably fearsome power of a Devil Emperor.

But he was Yun Che and his profound veins possessed the highest degree of affinity in the universe towards darkness profound energy… no matter what level this power of darkness possessed. However, origin blood was not only the core blood essence of a being, it also contained its own soul… Thus, it also felt a closeness towards Yun Che that came from Jie Yuan herself.

Yun Che’s body violently convulsed in pain, but his face was shockingly calm… He had already experienced the ultimate pain and despair in this universe, so what did this small bodily pain even amount to?

After a few short breaths, the black mist that had been stirring agitatedly began to slowly disperse, and the black light being released from his eyes faded together with it. From now on, the two drops of Devil Emperor origin blood that had come from Jie Yuan existed in Yun Che’s body… and they had done so in such a simple and easy manner. They had not rejected him at all.

It was impossible to predict… Even Jie Yuan herself would not be able to predict what sort of strange changes would occur to Yun Che’s body once her Devil Emperor origin blood had completely combined with his body, which possessed the Heretic God’s profound veins. 

She was also unable to predict how long her hoped-for “perfect fusion” would take. Tens of thousands of years? Thousands of years? Hundreds of years… Or...

The Devil Emperor origin blood entered his body, but it had not truly begun its slow fusion with his body. Yet Yun Che suddenly felt an incomparably huge change to his senses and perception. His spiritual perception could penetrate even more darkness now. In fact, it had reached a level where it was twice as powerful as what it had been before. This was especially true for his ability to sense darkness auras. His perception of darkness auras was now incomparably clear and he seemed to be able to clearly capture the movements of every single darkness element.

This was a Devil Emperor’s origin blood… Even the slightest interference that she made would have an enormous impact on the beings living in this era.

The sounds coming from Yun Che’s body had gone completely quiet, but Jie Yuan’s voice continued to resonate in his soul.

“Even though I am unable to personally witness what drove you to activate the devil mark, there is one thing that you must remember. If not for the fact that you possess his powers and have inherited his will, if not for the fact that you saved Hong’er and took care of You’er, I definitely would not have decided to leave the Primal Chaos or betray my clansmen. So, to the Primal Chaos Realm that you are living in, you are fully worthy of the title of messiah. This is especially true for the God Realm. Every single person owes you their life and no one has the right to betray you or let you down.”

“If you want to take revenge, put down all of your hesitation, compassion, and pity! Even if you massacre all the living beings of this age, there is no need to feel any guilt! Because this is what they owe you!”

“Finally, there are two things that I should probably let you know about.”

“The current Primal Chaos Realm is hiding an immense secret and an immense hidden malaise.”

The Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor had said the word “immense” twice, so it certainly was not something that the people of the current age could imagine or understand.

“As for this immense secret, I cannot tell you what it is and I also don’t have any right to tell you what it is. But if there ever comes a day where it ‘shows itself to the world’, you will surely be the first to know. At the same time, this is also the other reason why I chose to leave the Primal Chaos and block my clansmen’s return.”

“As for that immense hidden malaise…”

In the world of his soul, Jie Yuan’s figure slowly raised a hand. A black light that looked like a cluster of stars shone on her fingertip. “This is a memory fragment and I’ve put a seal on it. On the day that you perfectly fuse with my Devil Emperor origin blood and are able to perfectly control the Eternal Calamity of Darkness, you will naturally and easily be able to break its seal!”

This sealed memory fragment was the “immense hidden malaise” that Jie Yuan was speaking of.

“Yun Che.” The dark cluster of starlight floated from her hand into the deepest parts of Yun Che’s soul. After that, Jie Yuan’s voice grew gentler as she said, “When Ni Xuan was greatly disappointed and dispirited back in the day, he discarded his title of Creation God and went into seclusion. But you… If you experience a similar situation, I hope that you do not choose to do what he did by holding fast to the light even though you are shrouded in darkness. I hope that you can… take back what you lost millions of times over.”

“At the very least, you definitely cannot allow Hong’er and You’er to end up in their former situations. One was forced to discard her identity forever and the other had no choice but to exist in eternal loneliness and darkness.”

“This world does not have the right to let you and my daughters down. So, after you have gotten a clearer picture of this world, I want you to remember this phrase…”

“It is better to betray the heavens than it is to ever betray yourself!”

Jie Yuan’s figure disappeared from the world of his soul. Yun Che opened his eyes, and those eyes, which were as calm as still water, seemed to have grown even gloomier. 

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