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 639 - World Shaking Great Matter (1)

Even though Xiao Yun was made king and he had his own King Palace, he still usually stayed in the Yun Family household. His wedding was also naturally a big event within the Yun Family. After the date had been set, the Yun Family immediately bustled with activity, and invitations flew about like a snowstorm throughout the entire Illusory Demon Realm.

In contrast to his bustling clan, Yun Che right now was exceptionally relaxed. Like before, he was surrounded by a large number of young clanswomen who flocked around him incessantly…. That was right, these were all young maidens in their prime.

“Young Patriarch, I heard your Purple Cloud Art is already at the seventh level. Is that true? You clearly only started cultivating it barely two months ago.”

“Of course not.” Yun Che said he smiled, looking like a cat that got the cream, “Last night, I just made another breakthrough, so I’m already at the eighth level now.”

As he spoke, he extended his palm and gently raised it. Immediately, a peal of thunder resonated in the air above, and in an instant, a large stretch of storm clouds had already gathered in the air above. Even separated by thousands of meters, they could feel a terrifying lightning energy.

“Uwaaahhhh!” The young girls all let out cries of surprise, and the girl who spoke previously verily screamed as her eyes widened, “Wah! That’s really the ‘Thundercloud of Extermination’ from the eighth level of the Purple Cloud Art! The Young Patriarch is simply too amazing!”

“Young Patriarch, Xiaowan said that when you instructed her in the Purple Cloud Art the other day, you released red lightning before. Is that really true?” A purple-clothed girl asked as her eyes twinkled.

Yun Che faintly smiled and flipped his hand, and in an instant, the piercing screech of thunder pierced the air. A ball of purple lightning gathered in the palm of his hand; then, that ball of purple lightning turned into red lightning extremely quickly. Not only did the aura of the red lightning strengthen considerably, the crackling of thunder grew more explosive. Just by looking at it, one would feel their heart start racing.

“Waaahh!!” Just as expected, the red-colored lightning caused all the girls to let out lovely cries. A small and delicate girl said in a timid voice, “Young Patriarch, for lightning profound energy to change to a red color, doesn’t it require blood essence to activate…. If the Young Patriarch does that, will he okay?”

“No, I didn’t even use a single bit of blood essence at all.” Yun Che shook his head. “Red-colored lightning is of a higher level of lightning profound energy than purple lightning, it is manifested at the peak of the Purple Cloud Art, and has nothing to with the intimacy your profound veins have with lightning energy. It instead requires you to have a greater understanding of the laws of lightning. Once you have grasped the concept behind these laws, then you can use your profound energy to produce the stronger red lightning. The only difference is that it will consume more energy, but there won’t be any negative side-effects. But if you do not have the understanding of those concepts and you try to forcefully use red lightning, then you will need to sacrifice blood essence in order to do so…. So releasing red lightning does not necessarily require blood essence to be sacrificed.”

“Oh, so it actually can be like that… But, there doesn’t seem to have ever been anyone in our Yun Family that can release red lightning without losing any blood essence. So could it be that the Young Patriarch is the first one in the history of our Yun Family to have reached such a level?”

“It has to be! Young Patriarch is indeed the number one genius publicly acknowledged in all of the Illusory Demon Realm, the most awesome genius around! Since the Young Patriarch can use red lightning anytime he wants, then the Young Patriarch can use our Yun Family’s forbidden domain ‘Netherprison Lightning Emperor Formation’ without losing any blood essence?”

“This, I am also not sure about either. Because I have never tried it yet.” Yun Che said that he ‘had never tried it yet’ but it did not mean that he had never comprehended it before.

“Young Patriarch, the elders said that when you directly clashed with Duke Huai, he suffered heavy injuries. So your strength might already be on par with the Patriarch. And now that you also have the Purple Cloud Art, you might be even mightier than him. Isn’t that the case?” A girl said with a face filled with adoration.

“Hahaha, Duke Huai only got injured that day because I seized an opportunity and he wasn’t heavily injured either. I merely blasted him away. The one who heavily injured him was the Little Demon Empress. Right now, my power is still far inferior compared to Father.”

“Hee, the Young Patriarch is being modest again.”

“Young Patriarch’s talent is so outstanding, and so handsome as well. He has extremely awesome medical skills, and not only did he save the entire Yun Family, he even made a great contribution to the Illusory Demon Realm. In addition, he doesn’t even put on any airs… he still behaves in such an unpretentious manner… To think that in this world, there actually exists a person as perfect as our Young Patriarch.” A girl breathed lightly as her eyes shone.

Yun Che, “....”

In the distance, a bunch of Yun Family’s young men all looked like they were focused on training, but they kept looking in Yun Che’s direction and all of them had reddened eyes, but they could only look on from a distance… Not to mention his status as Young Patriarch, just his various exploits, any single one of would blind them to the point of not even able to birth the thought of jealousy.

What’s most resentful was that this Young Patriarch was really too amiable and didn’t have the slightest overbearing attitude even toward the lowest ranked clansmen. This caused the Yun Family’s female disciples… especially the females who were confident in their looks to encircle him as though a kaleidoscope of butterflies. Even their privately discussed topics were mostly about the “Young Patriarch.”

“Young Patriarch, yesterday you promised you would instruct me on how to cultivate the Purple Cloud Art one-on-one… Could it be that you’ve already forgotten?” A lovely girl donning a purple dress mentioned with a hopeful expression.

“Of course not, I even remember that the promised time is precisely three hours from now. Remember to come to my courtyard at that time.”

“O… Of course I will remember.” The purple attired girl flushed from excitement.

The surrounding young girls all revealed expressions of envy. A tall girl suddenly whispered with a shrewd expression, “Man’er, you gotta be careful okay. Little Wan had told me in secret the other day, that when Young Patriarch was instructing her to cultivate, he had ac-ci-den-ta-lly~ touched her butt and chest, you know! Your bosom is even bigger than little Wan’s, so watch out…”

“AH!!! DON’T SAY IT!!” That girl who was referred to as “Little Wan” rushed up with a reddened face as she covered that tall girl’s mouth with great effort.

“Cough cough.” Yun Che’s face was smooth and his heart was calm, as he said in a righteous and strict manner, “When it comes to one-on-one instruction, there will always be times where our bodies will touch. I will swear on the name of my master… that it was definitely unintentional!”

Jasmine: “Drop dead!”

“Yes, yes, yes! Young Patriarch definitely didn’t mean it… when you instruct Man’er, you must definitely be ‘careless’ more often… Hehehe!”

“You baddies! Don’t say… don’t speak about the Young Patriarch like that.” The purple-clothed girl known as ‘Man’er’ stamped her feet, and her face was flushed all the way to her neck. But her expression and her eyes did not seem panicked. Rather, they seemed to be more… in anticipation right now?

The girls tittered about again, but suddenly, their laughs cooled off. Indeed, the girls in front of Yun Che suddenly had faces that were filled with panic. His brows twitched and he was just about to turn around when a girl had already shouted out, “Little… Little Demon Empress.”

The moment Yun Che turned around, he saw that familiar petite, gray-colored silhouette, still quiet and silent as though a ghost without any presence at all, causing one to instinctively feel their heart jump… Yet that face of hers just had to be beautiful as though she were a goddess from the heavens.

The atmosphere that was originally ardent and ambiguous instantly froze with the Little Demon Empress’s sudden arrival.

“You all can withdraw, this empress have matters to discuss with Young Patriarch Yun in private,” Little Demon Empress said coldly, with no undulation of emotion in her pitch-black eyes.

“Yes…” No one dared to disobey the Little Demon Queen’s orders. All of the Yun Family’s girls carefully left after bowing down low. The Yun Family disciples not far away also all obediently withdrew.

In the blink of an eye, only Yun Che and the Little Demon Empress were left in the Yun Family’s huge training arena.

“Hmph, surrounded by the chattering of beauties, Young Patriarch Yun is sure living the good life!” The Little Demon Empress’s sarcastic voice carried sarcasm within.

“This is why there is a phrase that goes ‘live life to the fullest.’ I don’t know how long I’ll live in this lifetime, nor do I know how I’ll live in the next life, so taking full advantage of me still being alive in this lifetime, I’ll naturally live life happily… As if want to be like you, knowing that I only have three years left to live, yet still not loosening up even after taking revenge and resolving a great animosity…”

“Enough!” The Little Demon Empress shouted, “There is no need for you to speculate or interfere with what this empress thinks and wants to do… This empress has a question, you used to come to pay respects to this empress every day, but why haven’t you come in this past month? Is it… only because this empress told you to ‘scram’ a month ago?”

“Of course not.” Yun Che looked the Little Demon Empress in the eye and said with a laugh, “I was only wondering how long it was going to be before you can’t bear to visit me on your own accord.”

“You…” An instant of disorder suddenly appeared within the Little Demon Empress’ aura. It was unknown if it had happened because of anger or because a certain spot in her heart had been jabbed. She turned around, not meeting Yun Che’s gaze. “Ridiculous self-confidence! This empress is only here to visit Patriarch Yun and inadvertently saw that you were here, that’s all… Looks like this empress shouldn’t have come to the Yun Family today, hmph!”

The Little Demon Empress angrily snorted, and with a wave of her wide gray sleeves, she turned with the intention of leaving.

“Sigh.” Yun Che sighed lightly, and said quietly, “Maybe I really was delusional and believed myself infallible. That’s fine if you’re this unwilling to see me too… since after this month, even if you want to see me, it won’t be possible anymore.”

The Little Demon Empress’ departing footsteps immediately halted. She turned around and asked with knitted brows, “What do you mean?”

“Because after a month, my father will be fully recovered. It would also be time for me to return to the Profound Sky Continent.” Yun Che smiled and continued, “Even though I am a member of the Yun Family and my roots are here, I still grew up in the Profound Sky Continent. That place is where I truly belong. Since Illusory Demon Realm’s largest tumor has already been removed, there would no longer by anyone who can bully my family… but there are many people in the Profound Sky Continent who need my protection and many more matters I need to take care of. Adding in how hard it was for me to come back… I actually don’t know when I’ll be able to return after leaving for the Profound Sky Continent… and even if I return, I probably won’t stay for long before going back again.”

Yun Che slightly lifted his head and disappointedly said, “By that time, even if you want to see me, it may really be impossible.”

“...” The Little Demon Empress was silent, with a slightly stunned expression in her eyes. After a long while, she quietly asked, “You must go?”

“Mn, I must go. I have already left the Profound Sky Continent for almost three years. Not only that, they all probably think that I’m dead. I don’t know how much heartache I have caused them in these past three years. Furthermore, in these three years, I don’t even know how many unexpected events have occurred. If not because of my father’s injuries, I would’ve already have left two months ago.”

His tone of voice suddenly changed as he said with a beaming smile, “It can't be that you can't bear for me to leave, right?”

“...” The Little Demon Empress’ chest slightly heaved before she turned around and said coldly, “You are naturally free to go wherever you want. What does that have to do with this empress?! What this empress said earlier… was only something I should say to detain a subject as the Little Demon Empress! If there was one less person like you, who always claims all the credit, who is disrespectful to this empress after today, this empress would actually revel in the peace… Even if you return within three years before this empress dies, it’s best if you never come to visit this empress!”

The Little Demon Empress’ voice was incomparably cold and heartless, causing Yun Che to be slightly stunned. Seeing that she was about to leave again, he silently shook his head, then suddenly shouted, “Little Demon Empress, are you planning on always saying these kinds of false words in front of me?”

“Don’t deny it yet!” Before waiting for the Little Demon Empress to answer him, Yun Che quickly neared with a few steps as his voice became incredibly calm. “If you actually remembered that I had saved your life in Golden Crow Lightning Flame Valley and also helped you take revenge, then agree to a small request of mine… Which is, later on, whatever I say, whether it’s right or wrong, whether you approve or not, whether it moves or angers you, that you’ll listen until I’m done, without saying anything, without interrupting me, or leaving halfway.”

The Little Demon Empress stopped in her steps. She turned her head and looked at Yun Che. “Alright, since on you about to leave the Illusory Demon Realm and the possibility of us never seeing each other again, this empress will stand here and finish hearing what you have to say… Speak!”

Yun Che’s figure flashed, then stood three steps away from where the Little Demon Empress was. He slowly breathed in, looked at her eyes that were as tranquil as stagnant water, and enunciated loudly, “Little Demon Empress… Huan Caiyi! Do you really think that in everyone’s eyes, you are incredibly cold, heartless, cold-blooded, and nearly without emotion, so much that even you yourself think that as well? But too bad, in my eyes, you are not…”

“I have seen too many cold-blooded and heartless people, many more than you have ever seen in your entire life! In the eyes of a truly cold-blooded and heartless person, family is worthless. They would never sacrifice their own lives without hesitation to obtain power to achieve their revenge, and would never subconsciously block in front of me when I was about to be met a fatal blow, nor would they ever only eliminate only one Duke Huai Palace and only intimidate the rest of the rebels. Nor would they, at the cost of sacrificing their own lives, painstakingly take on the heaviest responsibility of shouldering the entire Illusory Demon Realm!”

“The cold-blood and heartlessness you show on the outside is merely a outer garment for others to see, and also merely a garment for you to deceive yourself! The you under that garment, I believe that I have seen it very thoroughly… Cough, I’m talking about your temperament, not your body, don’t misunderstand…”

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