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 502 - Commiseration

“Yun Xiao, I’m about to ask you a question that might be a little rude.” Yun Che looked at Yun Xiao, and said with a stern expression. “Usually, when you’re meeting up with Seventh Sister, have you always been doing it secretly?”

“Ah…” Yun Xiao was caught off guard from the question. His face revealed an embarrassed expression, which then turned dejected in the next instant. With a low sigh, he said. “You saw it yourself. The Under Heaven family basically looks down on me, and Seventh Sister is also the one and only princess of the Under Heaven family, the most precious pearl of the entire elf clan. They feel that I’m basically not worthy of Seventh Sister, and that if I were to really be together with Seventh Sister, it will even destroy their entire family’s reputation. In the very beginning, they severely objected to it. However, Seventh Sister’s personality is very unyielding, so later on, they gave a strict order to forbid Seventh Sister and I from meeting each other. Thus, it became even more difficult for Seventh Sister and I to meet. In this entire past year, we have only managed to secretly meet up three times. Every single time, we had to leave at least twenty five kilometers from the city to prevent others from finding us… In less than three months, it will be Little Demon Empress’s Hundred Year Reign Ceremony. The Twelve Guardian Families are all busy preparing for this occasion, which thus allowed Seventh Sister and I to finally manage to use this opportunity to meet up, but we never expected that…”

Yun Che held his chin with hand, and said as he pondered. “Regarding this matter about you meeting with Seventh Sister, other than the two of you, was there anyone else who knew of this… or had seen it?”

“No, definitely not.” Yun Xiao shook his head very decisively. “I definitely wouldn’t dare to allow anyone to know about it. Because not just the Under Heaven family, even my own family basically do not support the idea of me being with Seventh Sister, to the point where they would mock me behind my back. Even if I don’t care about myself, I have to take Seventh Sister into consideration. So I definitely wouldn’t allow anyone else to know about it. Seventh Sister definitely wouldn’t have told anyone else about this either.”

“You and Seventh Sister were assaulted, and not only did they do a perfect cover-up, their goal was especially clear as well. Evidently, they had made very sufficient preparations.” Yun Che slowly said. “If they hadn’t known that the both of you would meet at that place, they basically wouldn’t be able to prepare so adequately… Since you’re so sure that only the two of you know about this, then the biggest possibility is… when you were sending a voice transmission to Seventh Sister, it was overheard by someone nearby. Just like Seventh Sister; when she was sending you her voice transmission, she was overheard by her sixth brother.”

“Ah?” Yun Xiao was startled for a moment, and then shook his head even more forcefully. “That’s even more impossible. When I was sending the voice transmission, I was in my own courtyard, so it shouldn’t have been heard by anyone else. Even if someone really had somehow overheard it, it could only be someone from our Yun family… Our Yun family never had any sort of grudge with the Under Heaven family, and in our current declined state, we definitely aren’t willing to offend any other families, so how could something like this happen? And, even though those three black-clothed people were all concealing their profound arts, if they practiced our Yun family’s profound arts, I still would have been able to recognize it very easily.”

“...” Yun Che nodded, and went silent for a moment. After giving it a deep thought, he then said with a relaxed expression. “I guess so… Never mind, there’s no need to think about this for now. The Under Heaven family definitely has more things to worry about than us. Let’s just leave it to them to investigate.”

“But, what I’m even more doubtful of… Yun Xiao, although the Yun family is currently in a severe decline, at the very least, it had once stood at the peak, and currently, it still belongs to one of the Twelve Guardian Families. Not to mention that you’re still the Young Patriarch of the Yun family in name. With such a family history, based on identity alone, Seventh Sister and you clearly should be the perfect match. No, wait! Your status should still be a little higher than Seventh Sister. In any case, even if your father isn’t the Patriarch, but is instead a regular elder, they still shouldn’t be rejecting it this intensely… to the point where it could even elevate to a problem that would affect the family’s reputation.”

Yun Xiao’s expression instantly stiffened.

Yun Che glanced at Yun Xiao’s expression, and continued. “Not to mention, even the attitude of your Yun family members towards you is a little too abnormal. Take that Yun Hao earlier for example. He was utterly disrespectful towards you. His words were basically filled with sarcasm and humiliation, but from looking at you, you seemed to have already gotten used to such treatment… Putting aside the matter about you being the Young Patriarch, at the very least, your maternal grandfather is still the master of the Mu family. No matter how it is, you shouldn’t fallen to such circumstances in the Yun family… Is there some sort of hidden reason for this?”

Yun Xiao’s footsteps stopped for a moment. As he lowered his head, his face revealed a deep anguish.

Yun Che smiled apologetically. “I seemed to have asked a question that I shouldn’t have… I apologize, don’t take it to heart.”

“No.” Yun Xiao however, gently shook his head. When he raised his head, his expression was already sufficiently calm. “Even if it’s someone else, when they see my current circumstances, they will all feel that it’s really strange as well. Actually, in regards to the various rumors concerning me, seemingly everyone in Demon Imperial City knows about it. Brother Yun, you saved my life, and have even treated me as a friend, so there’s no need for me to hide anything from you. The reason why I’m not liked by people, is because… because ever since I was young, from the mouths of others, I have always been a ‘bastard child who had been picked up’.”

Yun Che glanced to the side. “What do you mean?”

Yun Xiao laughed out miserably. “What the Yun family is prideful of is the one and only power of the Profound Handle, which is also a core ability that ranks supreme among the Twelve Guardian Families. However I have always been unable to light up the Profound Handle Mark from my arm. When my profound strength reached the Sky Profound Realm, I was still unable to awaken a Profound Handle.”

“In the Yun family, as long it is guided by the power of bloodline, the Profound Handle Mark can be lighted up on the arm at the age of five, and then, according to the color of the Profound Handle Mark, it will be used to distinguish aptitudes and to see if there’s a need to pay more attention in raising. When our profound strength has reached the Sky Profound Realm, the Profound Handle will awaken, and from then on, it can be summoned out. This is Yun family’s bloodline power. As long as one has the Yun family’s bloodline, that person will definitely have the Profound Handle ability… with no exceptions.”

“I, however, never had it since the beginning. And this, has clearly proved that I do not possess the Yun family’s bloodline as well… In the knowledge of the Yun family, the entire Demon Imperial City, and even the entire Illusory Demon Realm, this is an ironclad proof.”

Yun Che: “...”

“About the news that I do not possess the Profound Handle Mark, on the year I was five years old, it had already been spread out by an unknown person, making it known to the entire city. And then, when I was unable to summon a Profound Handle after I broke through to the Sky Profound Realm, it was spread even more widely. During that time, the entire city was spreading rumors of how I wasn’t my father’s and mother’s son… And the most severe problem was, I was brought back from the Profound Sky Continent by my father and mother while I was a baby… The Demon Emperor and Little Demon Emperor both died in the hands of the people of Profound Sky Continent. The Demon Emperor’s Seal and Mirror of Samsara were also lost due to the infiltration into the Profound Sky Continent. The Demon Imperial City had always hated the Profound Sky Continent to the bone, hence, I, a ‘bastard child who came from the Profound Sky Continent’, would always receive cold glares, scorn, and even humiliation and hate wherever I go…”

Yun Xiao did not continue after that. Yun Che silently listened, and he could feel how Yun Xiao had walked in these past few years… Before he was sixteen, because of his crippled profound veins, he had always passed his days amidst other people’s scorn and ridicule. And Yun Xiao was even worse off than him. The things that Yun Xiao had endured, were much more heavier than his...

And because of this, he was able to clearly understand what kind of mentality Yun Xiao had these past few years… The two of them were both people who had been played by fate.

There wasn’t a reason for the Illusory Demon Realm to not hate the Profound Sky Continent. As Yun Xiao was most possibly someone who belonged to the Profound Sky Continent, even if he held the title of the Yun family’s Young Patriarch, how would he be liked here…? And how would the dignified Under Heaven family be willing to betroth their one and only princess to someone like him? That was indeed not merely a hierarchical problem of status; it truly involved a family’s reputation and pride...

Perhaps, if it wasn’t the Yun family, the matters regarding Yun Xiao’s bloodline could still be concealed, but, it just had to be the Yun family… The Profound Handle was the indisputable proof.

“Your father and mother… do they treat you well?” Yun Che slowly asked.

“Father and mother treat me really well.” Yun Xiao lightly nodded, as warmth flashed past his eyes. “Because of the Profound Handle, even I had deeply suspected my own bloodline. But, father and mother said that I’m their biological son. Even when they were facing colossal amount of suspicions, they have never admitted it. And, ever since I was young, they have treated me lovingly, and they were never willing to have me suffer the slightest of wrongs. Otherwise, with the Demon Imperial City’s hatred towards the Profound Sky Continent, I might not have lived till today.”

“So, because of your father and mother, you desperately cultivated, and had willingly endured all of the criticisms and unfair treatment, without retaliating in the slightest?” Yun Che said.

Number Seven Under Heaven had said before that ever since he was young, Yun Xiao had never received a large amount of resources. And, with his average aptitude and scarce resources, he was actually able to cultivate to half-step Tyrant Profound at the age of twenty-two! In the Profound Sky Continent, this was already an achievement at the very top level, and had even surpassed Feng Xiluo, who had once claimed himself to be number one in the younger generation of the Seven Nations!

Just by imagining, it could be known how hardworking he had been with his cultivation in these past few years… Or, it could be said to be desperate.

“Mn.” Yun Xiao lightly nodded, as he slightly gritted his teeth and said. “I’m the grandson of the Demon King, the son of Yun Qinghong and Mu Yurou… I definitely will not make them lose face, nor will I give them any trouble. In the future, if there really comes a time when we’re in a difficult situation, even if I have to risk my life, I will use all my strength to protect my father and mother well!”

After saying all that, he noticed that Yun Che’s eyes were a little strange. His expression stiffened, and said uneasily. “Brother Yun, will you look down on me… because of all these as well?”

“Of course not.” Yun Che shook his head without the slightest hesitation. “On the contrary, I admire you even more, and… I really should give you my proper thanks.”

“Ah? Thank me?” Yun Xiao blanked.

“Haha.” Yun Che lightly laughed, as he reached out and pressed his hand on Yun Xiao’s shoulder. “Yun Xiao, after meeting Senior Yun later, why don’t we become sworn brothers?”

“Ah… Aaaaaaah?” Yun Xiao opened his mouth wide, and his face was filled with complete disbelief. “Sworn… Sworn brothers? M-M-Me… Me and Brother Yun?”

“That’s right.” Yun Che said with a slight smile. “Alright, it is indeed a little abrupt for me to say something like this so suddenly. If you’re not willing, then forget it.”

“N-n-no, it’s not… It’s not that!” Yun Xiao hurriedly waved his hands. He was so excited that even his words began to stutter. “This, this… Brother Yun is so amazing, while I… You saw and heard it for yourself as well, I basically... How could someone like me be worthy of being with Brother Yun…”

“So you’re saying, you yourself think that you’re not worthy of Seventh Sister as well?” Yun Che interrupted him and said.

“I…”

“Don’t sell yourself short.” Yun Che patted on his shoulder with a firm and earnest expression. “You’re worthy of Seventh Sister, worthy of the identity of the Yun family’s Young Patriarch, and even more so, worthy of becoming sworn brothers with me. In these past few years, you have always been the only one silently enduring everything. After becoming sworn brothers, we will naturally have to overcome the difficulties together. I will shoulder everything with you. If you want to be together with Seventh Sister, then I will help you with everything I can. If you want to protect your father and mother well, then I will protect them together with you. If anyone were to bully you or your father and mother… Then, in your place, be it old or new debts, I will make them pay!”

Yun Xiao’s eyes stirred. Amidst his throbbing emotions, he was unable to calm down for a long while. In his days of growing up, every day, he was living in the odd gazes of everyone else. Although his identity sounded grand and honorable, forget about the young masters of the other families, even Yun family’s servants were unwilling to approach him. Yun Che’s speech, and his firm expression, undoubtedly dealt an overly huge blow to his soul. The moment he tried to speak, his voice was already choking. “Brother Yun, I…”

Yun Che understood that this was still the first day he and Yun Xiao had met. Suddenly speaking such words, even if it was someone else, it would still be hard for that person to digest everything in an instant. With a smile, he said. “Bring me over to see Senior Yun for now. We can talk about other matters later.”

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