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 791 - Hazy Dreamscape

Where is… this place?

Yun Che could only see a completely white world in front of him.

“Husband…” Cang Yue’s voice drifted into his ear. She appeared before him dressed in her phoenix robe, that soft and gentle expression that she would only show in front of him displayed on her beautiful and delicate face, “You need to take care of yourself, I will always be waiting for you in the Imperial City… I’ll wait till the day you’ve fulfilled all of your wishes, then I’ll accompany you wherever you wish to go. I don’t need anything else but you.”

“Senior Sister Xuerou… Yue’er…” Yun Che did his best to stretch out his hand and grasp her soft shoulder, “Don’t worry, I won’t let you wait for too long. In this life, I’ve done too much wrong to you already. But I will definitely… never forsake you.”

But his hand only passed through an illusion.

“Little Che, you’re hurt again?”

This time, it was Xiao Lingxi’s sweet and gentle voice that rang in his ears, “It wasn’t easy for us to reunite, so nothing must ever happen to you. If not, I really won’t know how I’m supposed to continue living anymore. Little Che… uuu…”

“Little Aunt, don’t worry, I’ll be fine… After I leave this place, I’ll immediately head back to Floating Cloud City.”

“What about me then? When will you come back and see me again?”

An anger-filled voice rang out behind him. He turned around and saw the Little Demon Empress. She may be small and delicate but the frightening power that she released from her body was right next to him, “You said you’d return shortly, but now you’ve been gone half a year, and you haven’t even sent me a single message! Are you tired of living!? Does your heart even remember me anymore!?”

Yun Che replied in an anxious and panicked voice, “Caiyi, how would it be possible for me to forget you. Since I left the Illusory Demon Realm, I have thought of you every single day. It is just that too many unexpected things happened while I was over here. Once I have settled everything on this side, I will return as fast as I can and I will bring many people with me as well.”

The figures of Yun Qinghong and Mu Yurou appeared behind the Little Demon Empress. A faint smile played across Yun Qinghong’s calm face, it was as if he was always so relaxed and composed, “Che’er, you are a true man, the one thing that your father is most proud of in his life. You are also the pride of the Yun Family. Go forth my child. Don’t be too weighed down by worries and restrictions, go do whatever you deem is right. Go do whatever you have to do!”

“No, don’t listen to your father’s words!” Mu Yurou said as tears danced in her eyes, “Che’er, hurry up and come home. Mother has been yearning for your presence day and night… Mother isn’t asking you to accomplish great things. I don’t care if you’re ordinary your entire life. I only want you to always be safe and sound, never having to suffer or worry…”

“Father, Mother…” Yun Che softly called out to them as he stretched out his height. But he could not reach them in time as their figures had already vanished into thin air.

“Yun Che, I left for somewhere far far away, and perhaps, we will never meet again in this life. You need to take care of yourself.”

That voice was soft and gentle, but it sounded nearly emotionless. Yun Che’s head jerked up as he saw a blue-clothed Xia Qingyue standing high in the clouds. Her figure was misty and enchanting as if she was a fairy that had descended from heaven. Her beautiful eyes glanced at Yun Che, before she turned around to leave, floating away with the clouds.

“Qingyue! Where are you… Don’t go! Tell me where you are right now!”

But no matter how hard he called, Xia Qingyue still slowly disappeared into the distance before completely vanishing from his world.

“Heh, Brother-in-law, even though we don’t know where Sis went, I have become extremely powerful now! I am even stronger than her now!”

Xia Yuanba appeared in front of him as he slammed both of his iron fists together, “Before, it was Brother-in-law who kept protecting me. But from now on, it will be I who protects Brother-in-law! If anyone dares to bully Brother-in-law, even if I’m not able to beat that fellow, I’ll still put my life on the line and fight!”

“So Brother-in-law, you must definitely not get into any trouble before we find Big Sis… Pah! What I mean is that I hope Brother-in-law and Sister will always be well and that the both of you will never run into any more danger!”

“Yuanba…”

“Big Brother Yun, I’m begging you… Please come back safe and sound. Xue’er will be waiting here for you. If you don’t come back for ten years, Xue’er will be waiting here for ten years… If you never come back, then Xue’er will stay here to keep you company for all eternity…”

Feng Xue’er kneeled in her spot, her hands clasped together, her eyes shining with tears. Her cherry lips were uttering a soft prayer, as a heart-wrenching aura radiated from her.

Yun Che anxiously rushed over to where she was, “Xue’er, nothing happened to me. I’m fine now, and I’ll be coming out soon, so you’ll be able to see me again. Xue’er… Xue’er!”

But Feng Xue’er could not hear his voice. No matter how loud he yelled, she still kneeled in tearful prayer, her melancholy and grief were boundless.

“Yun Che, before I even realized it, we’ve already been separated for so many years… I am waiting for you in a safe haven and I’ve even borne you an adorable daughter. So why haven’t you found us yet…”

At the very edges of his vision, he seemed to catch sight of a snowy figure. Even though it was only her back, it still remained as dreamily beautiful as ever. Yun Che’s heart was so agitated that he lost all control as he desperately tried to draw closer. He yelled at the top of his lungs, “Little Fairy! Is that you… Where are you right now!? Quickly tell me where you are! Answer me please!!”

Before he could even wait for a reply, his vision slightly blurred, after which, that figure had completely vanished as well.

But right in front of him appeared two figures at the same time. When Yun Che saw them, he simply stood in place, as he stuttered out a response, “Ling… er…”

On the left stood Su Ling’er. She was slender and elegant, all dressed in white silk. Her expression was one of melancholy and there was an eternal sadness written between her brows. On the right stood Su Ling’er once again but this was the young Ling’er. She was ten years of age, her delicate features slowly budding into wonderful maturity.

She softly spoke, “Yun Che, even though you owe me an entire lifetime, I have no regrets. Do you know that the moment that I died was the happiest moment in my entire life? Because I could sense those tears that you shed were for me.”

“If there is such a thing as reincarnation, even if we will meet the same end, I will still be like a moth drawn to your flame…”

“Ling’er…” Yun Che sank to his knees, his chest filled with boundless guilt, pain, loathing and regret…

“Big Brother Yun Che.” The young Ling’er had the purest and most innocent hope in her eyes, “You promised me that you would definitely be back to take me as your bride. Ling’er has been waiting… waiting every single day. So many years have gone by and Ling’er has already grown up. So why hasn’t Big Brother Yun Che come to fetch me…”

“Ling’er… I’ve done you wrong! But I will immediately find a way to get to the Azure Cloud Continent. Just wait for me a while longer… just a short while longer! In this life, I will definitely never hurt you nor forsake you, I definitely won’t…”

Ping!!

At this moment, that pure white world shattered into fragments and a boundless darkness replaced it instead.

“Urgh…”

A dry croak came from Yun Che’s lips. He opened his eyes with much difficulty and all he could see was boundless darkness.

“Jasmine… I think that… I shouldn’t be dead.” Yun Che said with a small grin on his face.

“Hmph! Hurry up and start healing your wounds!” Jasmine said in a huffy and angry voice, “To think that you’d actually dare to open ‘Rumbling Heaven’ again before your wounds were fully healed! If you didn’t stake it all on the ignition of your Phoenix and Golden Crow blood, you would have long ago become a shattered corpse!”

“Heh…” Yun Che gave a self-satisfied chuckle instead, “I said it before, didn’t I!? I can definitely… do it!”

Jasmine, “...”

“But this time around, my injuries were really… quite serious.” Yun Che muttered to himself. After that he used all of his might to take in a long breath of air, focusing his mind, calming down his blood and energy and slowly entering a state where he could begin his recovery.

His extremely abnormal recovery ability had always been the main reason he dared to keep risking his own neck.

When Yun Che opened his eyes once more, several hours had already passed.

However, not only had he not fully recovered from his old wounds, he had suffered even more injuries since then. Even if Yun Che possessed the power of the Rage God and the body of the Dragon God, it was definitely impossible for him to completely recover in such a short period of time. But these few hours of rest had stabilized his injuries. Furthermore, he had lost so much blood that he felt extremely anemic at the moment.

He had also encountered a very large obstacle when he tried to recover his strength.

“I have only recovered about forty percent of my strength and if I want to fully recover, it will need a decidedly long period of time.” Yun Che muttered to himself. But at the very least, his power was recovering faster than his wounds.

“You opened the ‘Rumbling Heaven’ gate twice in one day and this severely exhausted your profound veins! The fact that you can somehow recover forty percent of your strength is remarkable in and of itself! Even if you have the Heretic God Profound Veins, you will need at least half a month to make a full recovery!” Jasmine said in a huffy and irritated tone, “Furthermore, you also ignited your Phoenix origin blood and Golden Crow origin blood… Even though it has been several years since you last ignited them forcibly like this, the damage inflicted was still very serious! So within this half a month, the power of your Phoenix flames will be cut in half, and the power of your Golden Crow flames will drop by roughly thirty percent!

“The price that you have paid this time is simply…” Jasmine’s voice stopped as the complex feelings in her heart made it hard for her to speak.

Yun Che sat up straight before he stood up once more. The movement caused wounds that covered his entire body to tear. It was so painful that Yun Che could not help but grimace. He stretched out a hand and a flame ignited on top of it… Even though it was still a Golden Crow flame, its aura of destruction was indeed much weaker.

“It doesn’t matter, it’s not like it won’t recover forever. It will only take half a month.” The flames went out but Yun Che still had a relaxed smile on his face, “Compared to the result we obtained, the price I had to pay was simply insignificant.”

Before he had fainted, he had felt the four petals of the Netherworld Udumbara Flower being harvested by the power of the Sky Poison Pearl… Or else how would he be able to faint in peace.

“An insignificant price? That is considered an insignificant price to you!?” Jasmine grew furious once more, “Could it be that you do not know what you just endured!? You were one inch away from your body and soul being annihilated! But right now, you actually… you actually still don’t feel like it’s anything much?”

“Even though we didn’t get the best result, we still managed to get four flower petals in the end. As for the process, why the hell do we need to care about it anymore!” Yun Che was still smiling merrily, as if the Netherworld Udumbara Flower had not left the shadow of terror in his heart, “Jasmine, don’t you suddenly feel that I am way more awesome than you ever imagined! I have just accomplished a feat that you felt was absolutely impossible to do!”

“You… are really stupid! You’re the biggest idiot… IDIOT!!” Jasmine yelled in frenetic fury, she sounded as if she hated that she could not come out of the Sky Poison Pearl and give him a good walloping.

Yun Che closed his eyes as he prepared for his consciousness to enter the Sky Poison Pearl… But all of sudden, he opened his eyes again as he suspiciously surveyed his surroundings.

In order to counteract the terrifying soul stealing ability of the Netherworld Udumbara Flower, he had used the Dragon God Soul, the Phoenix Soul and the Golden Crow Soul, so in the end, he had used up so much energy that he had run empty. So the moment he woke up, it should not only be his power and his body that became frail, his mind should also be exceptionally frail and weak at this point of time.

But at this moment, his mind was not only not muddled, it was actually exceptionally clear! What was even stranger… was that his spiritual perception had originally been suppressed to an extremely small radius within the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest. But right now, he could clearly feel the flow of energy within a radius of more than thirty meters!

What was going on? Why did my mental power instead…

However, he chose to focus all his attention on the Netherworld Udumbara Flower first. He did not give it much more thought as he focused his consciousness and entered the Sky Poison Pearl.

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