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 676 - Casting off the Calamity

The nineteen members of Sun Moon Divine Hall fled, entering the Sun Moon Sacred Ark in less time than it would take to utter a breath, lest the frightening black-robed old man suddenly changed his mind. Following the shutting of the ark’s door, the Sun Moon Sacred Ark shot into the horizon in a flash, disappearing amongst the boundless snowfall which only left behind a slowly dissipating frigid current in its wake.

When they had arrived, they had twenty people altogether, including the Young Master, four great elders, and fifteen formidable protectorates. They originally believed this line-up to be completely overkill, like using a butcher’s knife to slaughter a chicken. But shortly after they had arrived, they hadn’t been able to harm Yun Che in the slightest. Instead, they had lost one of their great elders. Moreover, having to retreat in such a state… their hearts continued to tremble with fear as their entire bodies were drenched in cold sweat until the Sun Moon Sacred Ark had flown several hundred kilometers away.

“They’ve left… they’ve finally left…”

The overbearing aura of a Monarch that had caused all those who felt it to tremble disappeared without a trace, and the surroundings which had previously been saturated with the aura returned to normal. Following the Sun Moon Sacred Ark’s panicked flight, the women of Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace should have felt relieved, but all of them stared in a daze at the black-robed old man who floated in the air. They looked at him as if they were looking at a deity.

Murong Qianxue took a step forward, and with the deference of a junior greeting a senior said, “Junior Murong Qianxue, on behalf of Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace, thanks senior for his kindness!”

“Heh…” The black-robed old man weakly laughed, “Senior Master Murong… being called senior, I cannot… accept…”

The black-robed old man’s voice caused Murong Qianxue to be dumbfounded. In her astonishment she raised her head to look towards the black-clothed figure. All of the women from Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace behind her were petrified… since this voice completely lacked its previous deepness, indifference, and age… it clearly was Yun Che’s voice!!

“Whew…”

Letting out a long breath, the black-robed old man’s body violently flashed, and he fell, landing heavily on the snowy ground.

“Ah! Big Brother!”

“Yun Che” cried out in alarm, hurrying to the black-robed old man’s side as he used his body to help him up. At this moment, the black-robed old man’s body lacked all of its previous earth-shattering pressure, instead appearing as weak as someone who was nearing death.

Murong Qianxue and the others looked at each other in dismay. Mu Lanyi quietly asked, “Palace Master, how did this happen? Senior, he…”

“No… it’s not!” “Yun Che” waved his hand, and stuttered, “I’m not the Palace Master, Big Brother is the Palace Master… ah… he… he is big brother…”

The black-robed old man’s robes were peeled back which, astonishingly, revealed Yun Che’s face underneath… appearing exactly the same as the “Yun Che” currently helping him stand up!! The Yun Che which had removed his black robes had a face that was deathly pale, and his chest moved up and down violently, urgently and heavily breathing in and out. He laid there paralyzed, unable to get up for the longest time. He shut his eyes while his face revealed a satisfied expression as he laughed, “Very good… my Dragon Soul… was able to last long enough… whew…”

His voice was incredibly weak, but it was definitely Yun Che’s voice. On the other hand, the “Yun Che” who was helping him stand had the voice of a stranger. “Yun Che” was also hurriedly wiping away at his face, revealing his own face underneath as he anxiously said, “Big Brother, you have to be alright… your aura… how could it become so weak?”

“I’m alright,” Yun Che nodded his head. Laughing lightly he continued, “I merely overused my energy. I’m just tired, after resting for a bit I will be fine.”

The black-robed old man that had thoroughly frightened Sun Moon Divine Hall, causing them to retreat in fear, had become Yun Che. Moreover, “Yun Che” had become a stranger, causing the Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace women to stare stupidly at them, gazing dimly at Yun Che and Xiao Yun. Chu Yueli said in bewilderment, “Palace Master, this… how did this happen?”

“This is my sworn brother… Xiao Yun,” said Yun Che, whose profound aura had calmed down a bit, as he rose with difficulty while borrowing Xiao Yun’s shoulder. “Before, he was within the profound ark. I disguised him as me. Just now, when I suddenly disappeared and entered the profound ark, the ‘me’ who you all saw exit was him.”

“... Everyone… fairy sisters... ah, and senior sisters, I… I am called Xiao Yun,” Xiao Yun stuttered, not daring to lift his head as he spoke. Just facing one of these women who were just like snow immortals, his heartbeat would speed up and he wouldn’t be able to speak coherently, let alone facing so many all of a sudden.

If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he might not have been able to believe this world contained such an unexpected… wonderland?

“As for my so-called ‘master,’ from the beginning, it was me,” Yun Che laughingly said. In regards to Xiao Yun’s reaction, he wasn’t the least bit surprised.

“It was all a facade.” Yun Che understood that they were bewildered and smiled, saying, “I used special techniques in order to produce such an imposing aura. As for the starfire that killed Ye Shi, I prepared that a few hours beforehand in the Frozen End Divine Hall. As for everything else… I fabricated it all in order to intimidate them…”

The heaven-encompassing power that was able to intimidate Sun Moon Divine Hall was naturally from Yun Che’s Dragon Soul. He had used all of his might, doing his utmost to urge forth the Dragon God Soul to release the tremendous power of the Dragon Soul. Although Yun Che’s current power was far from sufficient to bring out all of the Dragon God Soul’s power, in the end, it was still from the Dragon God and was a power on the level of a “god.” Even if it was only a shallow bit of it, it was still enough to cause mighty Monarchs to tremble in fear.

Although the strength of this pressure couldn't compare with the Dragon Soul Domain, which could defeat enemies' minds in an instant, the amount of energy Yun Che expended to sustain this pressure was still exceedingly large. Before using it, he also did not know how long he would be able to keep it up for. Today was a gamble. Luckily… he had succeeded!

Exterminating Ye Shi caused Sun Moon Divine Hall to fly away in terror from the otherworldly ice-blue flame. That very flame was Yun Che’s fusion of Frozen End Divine Arts and the phoenix’s flames to create “Ice Flame.” Yun Che needed a long time to create Ice Flame; moreover, for the entire process he had to fully concentrate his heart and mind and not have any disturbances. It was simply unrealistic to use it during fights or when facing enemies.

The two clusters of Ice Flames which he had used against Sun Moon Divine Hall were created by him in the Frozen End Divine Hall before their arrival. But all energy, after being created, would naturally begin to dissipate. As soon as it had left the creator’s body, especially upon touching other objects, its strength would explode and begin to dissipate into nothingness.

In addition, the only person who was able to create and hold onto Ice Flame was naturally Yun Che. But even if Yun Che could make it in advance, he couldn’t simply take out the Ice Flame as soon as Sun Moon Divine Hall arrived. If he had done that, the deterrence factor would not be as strong, and he wouldn’t be able to create the image of an “absolutely strong and unprovokable master” by laying all his cards out on the table.

But Yun Che had an extremely special container for the Ice Flame… which was the Sky Poison Pearl!

This was because the Sky Poison Pearl had already assimilated into his body and could be considered a part of his body. Since the Ice Flame he created could only be held within his body, it could naturally be stored with the Sky Poison Pearl as well. As a result, when Yun Che had created the two batches of Ice Flame in the Frozen End Divine Hall, he had inserted it into the Sky Poison Pearl… Nevertheless, even if it was in the Sky Poison Pearl, the power of the Ice Flame would still dissipate a bit. The batch of Ice Flame which Yun Che had used to exterminate Ye Shi was the first batch he had made in the Frozen End Divine Hall, and as a result, it had dissipated more… compared to the latter batch, it was only half the size.

The Dragon God Soul’s pressure was enough to intimidate Sun Moon Divine Hall, but it wasn’t enough to scare them into fleeing. Today, from beginning to end, Yun Che had relied the most on the Ice Flame. At the time, when Yun Che was only at the Earth Profound Realm, the batch of Ice Flame he created was sufficient to destroy the Heavenly Profound Jade which had taken two Overlords an entire half year to destroy. At the Sky Profound Realm, the Ice Flame was enough to create a large hole in the ancient Primordial Era Profound Ark. Presently, having reached the Emperor Profound Realm, he believed that even if it was a Sovereign, they wouldn’t be able to completely resist the power of the Ice Flame.

It was just that, the terror of the Ice Flame, still far exceeded his expectations. He had originally expected that, in the face of the auraless Ice Flame, Sun Moon Divine Hall elders would certainly treat it with contempt, and as a result, they would get hurt and have to use their entire power to resist the Ice Flame… and even if they only lost a single hand, it would still be enough to cause great fear… after all, it was energy that his “master” casually threw out.

What he hadn’t imagined was that one of the four great elders, in the blink of an eye, would perish and burn into nothingness as a result of the Ice Flame without the slightest ability to resist! Moreover, this was Ice Flame that had already lost more than half of its power!

This was the Heretic God’s power defying natural laws, combining ice and fire together which resulted in an absolutely terrifying degree of power!

In addition, the energy it created was naturally extremely strong. It caused the crowd of Sun Moon Divine Hall elders who would normally look down on the world to turn ashen-faced in fright and for their voices to tremble in fear. Finally, when they ran away, they frantically ran, not even daring to look back.

“So it was like this…” Chu Yueli mumbled softly. Her expression didn’t release any of its tension, growing even more astonished instead. This was all a facade… but they had no way of imagining what kind of techniques could create such a facade.

It was no wonder that when “Yun Che” emerged the second time his expression had none of its previous haughtiness, and instead, most of the time he lowered his head, speaking softly and a bit hoarsely… they had originally thought that he was being deferential in front of his master when in reality it was just a fake Yun Che.

“No matter how it happened, Sun Moon Divine Hall’s villains have all been scared into running, trembling as they fled.” Feng Hanyue said as she clasped her hands in front of her chest, facing Yun Che.

“Yes, Yes!” Feng Hanxue immediately followed, nodding her head, “Although it was fake, Palace Master is too amazing, scaring all those powerful people into fleeing, scaring them so much that they probably… wouldn’t dare to come back, would they?”

“Yes… at the very least, until they discover the truth, they won’t have the guts to come back. After all, often the stronger a person is, the more they fear death… In the future, this place, not only will it not have danger, it could be said… it will be the most safe place… whew…” After speaking, Yun Che’s head felt a bit of dizziness. He let out a heavy breath of air and closed his eyes. Today’s harvests were great, having completely exceeded his expectations. In this way, not only would Sun Moon Divine Hall no longer dare to come back to the Snow Region of Extreme Ice, his own degree of safety had greatly increased since the news that he had an extremely strong master who could seize the heavens would be spread by Sun Moon Divine Hall. At that point, no matter who or what power wished to take his life, they would have to consider whether they could afford to provoke the “master” which had caused Sun Moon Divine Hall to piss their pants in fear!

Although the “master” was a facade that he had designed, the might of the world shocking flame that was able to burn Ye Shi to nothingness… this couldn’t be faked!

In this way, Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace had thoroughly broken through its difficult circumstances. In addition, he would be able to be at ease and relax… and go to handle the problem of the Divine Phoenix Empire!

“Palace Master…” Yun Che’s appearance caused Murong Qianxue to softly cry out, promptly moving forward to personally prop Yun Che’s body up. “Palace Master is currently very weak, quickly take him to the Frozen Palace to rest… Sir Xiao, please come along too.”

“Ah?” Xiao Yun stared blankly then hurriedly waved his hand, saying with an ill-at-ease expression, “No, no… I won’t enter, I heard big brother say that Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace doesn’t have… doesn’t have any males…”

Jun Lianqie relaxedly said, “Although our asgard seldom accepts male visitors, Sir Xiao is the Palace Master’s sworn brother and also is our palace’s noble guest. In addition, Sir Xiao helped Palace Master repel the powerful enemies and can be considered our Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace’s benefactor. At the very least, let us extend our invitation of friendship, please.”

Xiao Yun looked to Yun Che, who was being held by Murong Qianxue, for help, only to discover that his eyes were lightly closed and his breathing was steady, as if he had already fallen into a meditative state. Having no other option, Xiao Yun scratched his forehead and said with an embarrassed expression, “Okay… then I will have to impose on you.”

After all, in this completely foreign land. Without Yun Che’s Primordial Profound Ark, he had no way to return to Blue Wind Imperial City.

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