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 792 - Mysterious Black Jade

In the world of the Sky Poison Pearl, Jasmine stood with her back facing him, a cold look on her face. On the small bed beside her, Hong’er was snoring lightly after having eaten her fill.

That gloomy purple light was especially eye-catching in this jade-green world.

The four petals of the Netherworld Udumbara Flower were perfectly unharmed, and they were currently being surrounded by a thin layer of green light as they floated quietly in place. Even then, that purple light still shone clearly through it, but it did not affect Yun Che’s soul in any way.

“It looks like its soul stealing ability has been sealed by the Sky Poison Pearl.” Yun Che said in relief as he drew closer.

“Hmph! What does that have to do with the Sky Poison Pearl!? The moment the Netherworld Udumbara Flower was harvested, I was the one who sealed its hellish power so that it would not leak out any more.” Jasmine turned around, her face tilted to the side as she refused to look at him.

“Hm?” Yun Che stared at Jasmine’s tiny face and asked her with a shocked and doubtful look on his face, “Jasmine, your eyes seem a bit weird. Why do I get the feeling that… you were crying before this?”

“What… nonsense!” Jasmine’s reaction was akin to cat whose tail had been stepped on, “Crying? Me? What a ridiculous thing to say!”

“...” Jasmine’s weird reaction caused Yun Che’s eyes to be filled with suspicion. He redirected his gaze to the Netherworld Udumbara Flower once more and said in a sincere voice, “Two profound cores from a Sovereign Profound Beast, more than thirty five kilograms of Purple Veined Divine Crystal and now we finally have the Netherworld Udumbara Flower as well... Jasmine, all the things that you needed have been gathered. So now you can begin to reform your body, correct? Or do you still need to fulfill any other conditions? Such as a certain environment, or some kind of external energy...”

“There is no need for anything else! Now that all of these items have been gathered, I can start right away!” Jasmine said as she shook her head. After that, she gave Yun Che a very deep look as she said in irate tone, “The fact that you were able to obtain this four petal Netherworld Udumbara Flower far exceeded my expectations but you must never ever do such a thing… Forget it! In any case, you never listen to anything that I say!”

“I can begin reconstituting my body right away!” Jasmine repeated as her eyes grew focused, “Right now, I am unable to go outside and while the Sky Poison Pearl is able to house spirit bodies, it is unable to harbor any living creatures. If I try it here, it will come with the risk that something strange occurs during the process. So, the best possible choice and the only choice left to me right now would be to use the Primordial Profound Ark.”

“I was also thinking of that.” Yun Che said as he nodded his head.

“Once I have regained my physical form, the devil energy within the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest will not harm me in the slightest. As for that sealing barrier...” Contempt appeared on Jasmine’s face as she spoke, “I can tear it apart with a twist of my fingers.”

She glanced over as she continued, “The reason why you were not bothered by the barrier being resealed and you being left behind is because you assumed that once I regained my physical form, I would be able to easily tear open this barrier, correct?”

“You’re absolutely right.” Yun Che said as he looked intently at the Netherworld Udumbara Flower, his hand on his jaw. He looked like he was pondering something deeply before he continued to speak, “However, before that... Oh right, Jasmine! Roughly how much time will it take for your body to be reconstituted?”

Jasmine fell silent as she furrowed her brows in thought. After that she replied, “Even though I know the method, I have never tried it before. According to the records and given my degree of strength, it shouldn’t take too long. It will roughly take around twenty odd hours, give or take. Perhaps it will be longer, perhaps it will be shorter. But there shouldn’t be too much of a discrepancy from the estimate that I’ve made.”

“I see.” This amount of time was far shorter than Yun Che had imagined it to be. Things on the same level as Jasmine were indeed things that he were basically unable to understand or measure given his knowledge.

After silently calculating how long he had been trapped in the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest, he suddenly spoke up, “Jasmine, your soul body is unable to leave me for too long a period of time, correct? But what if you were in the Primordial Profound Ark? After all, it has already been absorbed into my body.”

Jasmine immediately understood what Yun Che was trying to get at. She shook her head sharply and with no hesitation, “Of course not! The Primordial Profound Ark forms its own world. If I am within the Primordial Profound Ark and you are not, even if it is absorbed into your body, we will still be separated by two worlds! If that situation continues for even a moderate period of time, my soul will be scattered to the four winds before I’d be able to finish reconstituting my body.”

“Could it be that you can’t wait for me to finish reconstituting my body and you want to leave the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest earlier?”

“Sort of.” Yun Che said as he nodded his head, “I’ve already been here for three days. If my calculations aren’t too far off, the Devil Sword Conference will start in around twelve to fourteen hours. If I can get out now, I can make it just in time.”

“Before I reconstitute my body, I won’t be able to materialize in the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest! So how are you going to get out?” Just as she finished speaking, a thought flashed through Jasmine’s mind, “Could it be that you want to try...”

“Well, I should give it a try at the very least!” Yun Che rubbed both his hands together, an eager expression on his face,” If I can succeed, then that would naturally be great. If I fail, then it won’t really matter much either way. The main objective I came to Supreme Ocean Palace for has already been achieved. The Devil Sword Conference isn’t something that I feel like I definitely need to participate in.”

Yun Che’s consciousness left the Sky Poison Pearl and he opened his eyes once more. He ignited his Golden Crow Flames and borrowed the firelight to guide his steps forward.

Bang.

A sound suddenly rang out from behind him, it sounded as if some sort of stone had fallen to the ground. The sound was very faint, but in this silent world, it could be heard clear as day. It caused Yun Che to instantly halt in his tracks as his completely relaxed nerves tensed up, like he had come into contact with electricity.

Bang… bang… bang, bang, bang...

Something hard continued to fall against the ground, and it was getting faster and faster. The moment Yun Che decided to turn around, he heard a huge explosion suddenly shake the place.

Bang!!

“Don’t worry.” Jasmine said in a tepid tone, “It is just the stone wall at very end of the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest finally collapsing. When you destroyed the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign, most of the energy from your attack had exploded against that wall. Even though it did not collapse then and there many cracks had been formed in it. But I didn’t think that it would actually collapse now.”

“Ah, so that’s what it was.” Yun Che said as he gave a soft sigh of relief.

“Go take a look!” Jasmine abruptly said, “That is the stone wall at the very end of the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest. Now that it has caved in... it is very possible that there is another world behind it!”

Yun Che moved forward as instructed, his footsteps were exceptionally cautious. At the same time, he caused the Golden Crow flames to burn even more intensely as they expanded the radius of his vision slightly.

Crunch!

A small sound rang out as he stepped on something that was scattered on the ground. Yun Che swiftly focused on what was below his feet and he was astonished to find that he had stepped on a pile of black ash.

This was what remained after the Golden Crow flames had burned up the body of the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign!

But only part of it had become ash, there was also something that the Golden Crow flames could not incinerate, it was as hard and solid as a boulder.

Yun Che did not pay any attention to it as he continued moving forward. He very quickly reached the point where the light of his flames shone on a pile of pitch-black rubble.

Yun Che flung out his arm, pushing the Golden Crow flames in his hand forward. The moment the flames touched the ground, they shone even brighter, fully illuminating the path ahead... Half of the pitch-black stone wall that was at the end of the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest had crumbled, shattered stones littering the ground.

Beyond that wall lay a black hole that gave off the feeling of a deep abyss.

The Golden Crow flames that he tossed near the wall clearly illuminated the entire outline of that “black hole”. But he could only see a dreadful inky darkness that lay beyond. He was not able to see what was inside at all. The Golden Crow flames were right next to the black hole, but their light could not penetrate into its interior.

It seemed to Yun Che that even if the strongest light one could imagine came into contact with the world behind that stone wall, it would be swallowed up in an instant.

“That is... Behind that wall, there seems to be another dimension!” Yun Che said in a low voice and he found that he was unconsciously holding his breath. He suddenly thought of something. He was able to blast this stone wall open when he had pushed himself to his limits, but given the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign’s strength... Perhaps he would have needed a longer time but he definitely had the ability to blast it open as well.

But before it had been struck by his sword blast, this stone wall had clearly been completely untouched.

Could it be that for an entire ten thousand years, the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign had failed to discover the world that lay on the other side of the wall?

Or… was it that he was aware of it but for some reason, he chose not to blast that wall open?

Or perhaps… that stone wall was constructed by the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign in the first place!?

Yun Che’s heart burned with a huge suspicion and an intense curiosity. He once again ignited a cluster of Golden Crow flames in his hand. After that, he began to stride forward, intending to approach that “black hole” and investigate just what kind of world lay behind that stone wall.

But before his foot had even touched the ground, Jasmine suddenly shouted in alarm, “Don’t approach that black hole! Immediately get back!!”

Yun Che’s body froze before he immediately turned around and retreated by a good distance.

“Jasmine, what’s wrong? Is there something dangerous in that place?” Yun Che asked cautiously.

“It is far more than merely being dangerous!” Jasmine said in an extremely serious voice, “I finally know where the dark devil energy in this place is coming from!”

“...So it’s coming from inside that black hole?” Yun Che asked with sunken brows.

“That’s right! It lies behind that stone wall! To be able to release darkness energy of such a high level, whatever is hidden behind that wall is definitely extremely terrifying!” Jasmine’s voice grew more and more serious. He did not know if he was mishearing it but Yun Che could sense fear and alarm shooting through Jasmine’s voice right now, “Moreover, when I extended my senses into the interior of that black hole just now...”

Jasmine’s voice came to a sudden halt and a long time passed before she finally exhaled faintly and continued, “I don’t know how to describe what kind of feeling that was. Whatever it is, you need to leave immediately and you must never ever approach this place again!”

Yun Che gave a grunt of assent as he continued to draw back. It was just that this time, his retreat was much more leisurely. He was only alarmed at that terrifying unknown existence that laid behind that stone wall.

He was willing to repeatedly risk his life to obtain the Netherworld Udumbara Flower but he would definitely not be so stupid as to risk his life for the sake of satisfying his meaningless curiosity!

After he had retreated several steps, Yun Che turned around... But just as he was turning his body, he saw a faint shimmer of light flash across the corner of his eyes.

Hm? Light!?

How could there be anything that reflected light in this place?

After hesitating for a moment, Yun Che abruptly began striding forward at a quick pace.

“What are you trying to do!?” Jasmine asked in shock as she thought that he intended to force his way into that world behind the stone wall.

Once he was in the approximate location of where he saw that light being reflected, he stopped and began to slowly lower his body to the ground.

In front of him lay the pile of ashes of that was all that remained of the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign. It was this pile of ash that had been unintentionally stepped on and scattered by him. Amidst the scattered ashes, there was a bizarre black light that was being reflected by the Golden Crow flames.

Yun Che extended a hand and reached towards the item that was flashing with light, retrieving it from the pile of ashes.

It was a round piece of black jade that fit perfectly in his palm. It was heavy and cold to the touch and it was flawlessly jet-black all over. It was extremely smooth and glossy and he did not see a single marking or rune anywhere on its surface.

“What is this?” Jasmine asked suspiciously.

“I have no idea either. In fact, I was just about to ask you the same question.” Yun Che carefully examined it but he could not find anything odd. Furthermore, Jasmine’s words also told him that even she did not know what this was.

But he could definitely confirm one thing, this item was definitely something that belonged to the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign. The Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign was isolated in this place for ten thousand years but he had not thrown this item away. It was clear that he had always kept it on his person... If that was the case, then it definitely could not be merely a piece of ordinary black jade!!

Even the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign’s flesh had been burned to ashes by the Golden Crow flames, yet this jade remained completely undamaged. Just this point alone would be enough to prove that it was no common item.

It was just that it had no markings and no runes, it did not even give off any form of energy aura at all! Just from its aura alone, it appeared to be no more than a most ordinary piece of jade, something that was not even comparable to the lowest-grade profound jade.

“Jasmine, can you feel anything special about it?” Yun Che brought the black jade even closer to his eyes as he strove to discover something about it.

“...Why don’t you try and infuse your profound energy into it?” Jasmine asked.

“Alright!”

Yun Che summoned a thread of energy and he slowly and gently infused that thread of profound energy into the black jade. Immediately, a deep shock appeared on his face. With a flip of his hand, he sent an even stronger thread of profound energy into the black jade… and his face grew even more stunned and amazed.

“What is going on?” His expression caused Jasmine’s brows to knit together as she immediately asked him a question.

“It disappeared!?” Yun Che still stared at his palm in disbelief. The two threads of profound energy that he had infused into this piece of black jade had disappeared like a drop of water in an ocean, it had vanished without a trace. And this reflective black jade still did not give off any aura!

It was as if the two threads of profound energy had been swallowed up by a bottomless abyss, forever disappearing from this earth.

“Disappeared?” Jasmine’s expression was just as shocked as Yun Che. She thought about it for a while before speaking in a low voice, “Since it was something that belonged to the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign, then it is extremely likely that it is something on the level of the devils! Its mysteries will not be so easily divined by any ordinary power.”

“But don’t think too deeply about it right now and set it aside for the time being, it may come in use in the future. Right now, you’d be better off focusing your energy and attention on thinking of a way to escape from this place!”

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