Against the Gods (Web Novel)

The Black Feather Merchant Guild’s ability to gather information wasn’t just for show. In a few hours, the Soul Sect had received a reply. They had found the location of “Poison Saint Blackheart”. As they had initially guessed, he was inside Darkya City.

The Darkya branch sect sent people to the location at top speed, however the reply the main sect got after caused Lei Qianfeng to erupt in rage.

“According to the Black Feather Merchant Guild’s report, our branch sect members did find that person and that person also personally admitted to being Poison Saint Blackheart but… he rejected the offer to come.” Lei Kun who received that transmission reported the news with unease.

“Rejected?” Lei Qianfeng frowned, “He obviously doesn’t have the guts to come! Heh, he’s indeed a fake! How can there be such a coincidence in this world!?”

“No… He didn’t say he wouldn’t come, he said… he said…”

“What did he say? Give me the full message!”

“Yes!” Lei Kun gnashed his teeth, “In response to our disciples who invited him… he said that our Soul Sect wasn’t anything big, if we want him to treat the poison… we need… we need to have Sect Master personally bring the patient… along with a sufficient large amount of profound stones and crystals to him.”

“Bastard!” Lei Qianfeng already had a stomachful of rage when he heard these words. It was as if his lungs would explode. “An impersonator actually dares to slight my Soul Sect! Once he cures Mo’er, I will personally kill him!!”

“Sect Master!” Lei De Yan hurriedly interjected, “What Chief Hall Master said earlier wasn’t wrong. The Poison Saint has countless foes, no one would ever dare to impersonate him. Although this old one has never seen Poison Saint Blackheart, I’ve heard of his extremely strange personality. Blackheart is extremely arrogant. Several powers of the middle star realms have made many requests of him. Him looking down on our sect, which is located in a lower star realm… is actually quite normal.”

“Bullshit!” Lei Qianfeng yelled. “My Soul Sect is not some ordinary sect! Furthermore I have the backing of the Divine Martial Realm! Just a mere poison doctor, within this Darkya Realm of mine, what qualifications does he have to be arrogant? Furthermore he’s most likely to be a fake!”

“Qianfeng! Stop hesitating, Mo’er is about to die!” Xiao Qingtong wailed, “On the off chance he is really Poison Saint Blackheart…”

“Shut up! I sent men to invite him, that’s already a display of sincerity. He wants me, the almighty Darkya Realm King to personally beg him, a tiny worthless poison doctor?” Lei Qianfeng was a picture of utter rage. “If he’s a fake, then I, Lei Qianfeng, would utterly lose face! Even if he’s real, with the foundations of our Soul Sect, should we be compared to a homeless dog of a wandering poison doctor? My Soul Sect can’t detoxify this poison, on what basis is he able to?”

“Sect Master…”

“Stop this discussion!” Lei Qianfeng cut Lei Deyan off just as he was about to speak. After having been played by this “Ling Yun” for more than half a month and not even catching a trace of his shadow, his favorite son was now hanging in the balance of life and death due to Ling Yun’s machinations. Under these circumstances, how could he keep his cool? He then suddenly recalled and gruffly shouted, “That’s it! Thunder Toad! The Thunder Toad! Go and get the gift that the Divine Martial Realm bestowed us. Bring the Thunder Toad here!”

“What? Thunder… Thunder Toad?” Everyone got a big fright “But… The Thunder Toad is a poisonous species, if Sect Master’s intention is to use poison to fight poison… I’m afraid…”

“Just bring it here now! Perhaps it can save Mo’er!” yelled Lei Qianfeng.

The poison Guangmo came from an ancient horned dragon that was more than six hundred thousand years old. This poison wasn’t any ordinary poison that could be easily resolved. The most fearsome thing about this wasn’t its toxicity but rather the special life force within it that could also penetrate into the bones and soul of its victim.

If a large amount penetrated one’s soul, even Divine Sovereign Mu Bingyun could only just wait for an eventual death.

The Thunder Toad could actually use its poison to counteract other poisons, especially under the guidance of Lei Qianfeng who was a mighty Divine King Realm expert but never in Lei Qianfeng’s life would he have ever guessed that Lei Guangmo’s poison came from a poisonous dragon of the Divine Master Realm. Although the Thunder Toad was a rarity, compared to the level of the dragon, it was simply a case of being as different as heaven and earth.

As the Thunder Toad entered Guangmo’s body, they initially saw a measure of effectiveness. The redness on Lei Guangmo’s body receded a little bit and even his painful state started to stabilize. Everyone started to be happy and hopeful…. But just a few minutes later, Lei Guangmo’s body jerked about furiously as if he was suddenly being shaken by something, it seemed that the poison that was being suppressed by the poison toad had been angered and was now erupting at full force. Crimson fumes accompanied by a toxic aura countless times stronger than earlier started to rise from his body.

“Mo’er!! What happened… Why is it like this…” Xiao Qingtong’s face was totally pale, she screamed herself hoarse.

“...Mother… Save… Me… Ah… Ahhhhh…”

The blood in every part of his body started to burn with intense heat. The crimson fumes were so thick that it now covered his body, making difficult to see through to him. After letting out the last cry of his life, Lei Guangmo had no more breath in him. He had died under the poisonous effects of the ancient horned dragon.

“Mo’er… Mo’er!!” Xiao Qingtong was inconsolable as she fell to the ground.

“Sect Master… Mistress… condolences…” Lei Tiangang softly sighed.

“...” Lei Qianfeng stood still, as if his feet were glued to the floor. The pain and anger being evident in his flickering pupils. Not a peep came out of him as his entire body convulsed and he fell backwards.

“Sect Master!!” Lei Qiandu shouted in horror, rushing forward to catch him.

“Ling Yun… Ling… Yun…” Lei Qianfeng kept on repeating Ling Yun’s name as if his soul only had that name imprinted on it. Eventually he opened his eyes wide as a fiendish aura surged wildly out of him. He roared crazily, “Ling Yun! I will kill you!! I WILL KILL YOU!!”

“Tiangang, immediately… Activate all activatable defensive formations! Send out all disciples from all sixty four halls, stake out every place that Ling Yun might appear at! Once you find his whereabouts, use everything you have to kill him, split him into ten thousand pieces!!”

Lei Qianfeng’s roar was like thunder rampaging throughout the entire sect. Causing every member of the sect to shudder. The anger, sorrow, and hatred within it terrified each and every disciple within the sect.

“Send out all disciples from all sixty four halls.” This order gave Lei Tiangang a big shock, he subconsciously replied, “Sect Master, Ling Yun has committed such a heinous act, he has most likely fled far far away…”

“No! He’ll definitely come back for more… He definitely will!!” All the blood travelled straight up to Lei Qianfeng’s completely red face. His entire body was shaking, as if every vein on his body might explode at any moment. “Go now! If Ling Yun is not found… then don’t ever come back!!”

The current Lei Qianfeng had lost all sense of reason. Lei Tiangang didn’t dare to speak any further and immediately left with the order. Soon after, another thunderous roar of anger filled all four corners of the Soul Sect.

Lei Qianfeng’s chest rose up and down violently, heaving like a raging bull. With this atmosphere, no one dared speak another word. After quite a long while, Lei Qianfeng’s breathing started to calm down. He gave another order, “Qiandu, immediately notify Guangqian, Yuanzhe, and the rest in all the branch sects, get them to return to the main sect and have all the branch sect leaders to personally escort them back. Get them to leave now, not a moment later!!”

Lei Qianfeng’s sons were spread about the different branch sects for training. Lei Guangmo’s matter had Lei Qianfeng terrified that Ling Yun would act against his other sons.

Lei Guangmo was dead and Lei Qianfeng was raging. With the elite sixty four halls being dispatched, the sect was quiet for a while… and then another storm struck.

Not long after, Yun Che received a transmission from Ji Ruyan.

“Sir Ling Yun, the Soul Sect has sent news of Lei Guangmo’s death.” After reporting this, she remained silent as she really wanted to know what kind of terrifying poison Yun Che had used to kill Lei Guangmo.

“This timeline is going according to what I’ve planned. What’s the reaction on the Soul Sect’s side?” Yun Che asked.

“Lei Guangmo was Lei Qianfeng’s favorite son. Dying right in front of him from poison has caused him to lose some sense of reason, he actually activated all sixty four halls and all the hall masters, vice hall masters, as well as nearly two million disciples to set up ambushes and traps all around the Soul Sect . He has even activated every defensive profound formation they have.”

“As the Black Soul Mountain has many hiding spots and you’ve been seen there the most, the Black Soul Mountain has at least a thousand odd ambushes setup while defensive formations in that area number over two thousand. I suggest that during this period of time, Sir Ling Yun should most definitely not go anywhere near the Soul Sect. These measures they’ve taken are nothing like we’ve ever seen before and cannot be sustained for too long. It’s pretty obvious that these orders were issued when Lei Qianfeng was being impulsive. In a few days time when Lei Qianfeng has somewhat calmed down, we can definitely expect him to retract the order.”

“So what you’re saying is that… in order to catch me, he’s sent out all his disciples from the sixty four halls, which also means that the defenses within the main sect itself are weaker than usual by a lot?” Having heard what Ji Ruyan had said, Yun Che’s eyes began to shine.

Although the disciples of the sixty four halls only accounted for one quarter of the entire sect’s numbers, they were instead all of its elites. And now that all of them had been sent out, this meant that the greatest threats, including the hall masters and vice hall masters, were no longer in the sect!

“...That is indeed the case.” Ji Ruyan felt it peculiar after hearing what Yun Che had said. “Sir, do you actually… have something in mind?”

Yun Che didn’t reply and continued asking, “Lei Qianfeng should have already sent out the order for all of his sons to return from the branch sects… Am I right?”

This, was Yun Che’s main goal.

“Two hours ago we did receive that news. Lei Qianfeng’s six sons are now all on their way back to the main sect and they’re also being escorted by the respective branch sect sect masters. By the evening, they should all be back within the main sect. Mister, you…”

“You’ll know tomorrow, around this time.”

Yun Che ended the transmission. A cold glint flashed across his pupils.

Picking up the Sound Butterfly Blade, he applied again more of the horned dragon’s poison on its cold crystal like edge.

Profound strength… It was pursued by countless living beings. It strengthened one's soul, granted greater longevity, and allowed one to take the seat of power. In order to possess strong and great profound power, one needed months and years, countless fortuitous encounters, a large amount of cultivation resources, and an endless amount of blood and sweat….

But just a little bit of poison could render all of that useless, annihilating the greatest of beings.

Poison was a fearsome object across the realms. Back then, when Yun Che was in the Azure Cloud Continent and had come into the possession of the Sky Poison Pearl, he had deeply recognized this fact.

At that time, his profound strength was pitiable, yet relying on the poisonous abilities of the Sky Poison Pearl, he sent countless experts to the grave who were vastly superior to him in profound strength… even entire sects and cultivation families. At the same time, since the poison was so terrifying, the pearl had attracted the attention of all the great experts in the Azure Cloud Continent.

And in that regard, be it that of poison or detoxification, the Sky Poison Pearl was unparalleled.

At that time in the Azure Cloud Continent, he had experienced the sheer power of the poison ability the Sky Poison Pearl possessed.

However after he found out about the Heavenly Profound Treasure ranking and his profound strength repeatedly breaking through, he started to have some doubts about the Sky Poison Pearl’s poisonous powers.

When it came to the God Realm especially, he saw many greater levels of strength and his suspicions could only grow thicker and stronger.

When he was in the Azure Cloud Continent, the Sky Poison Pearl was indeed fearsome beyond compare but when he thought about it again, in the Azure Cloud Continent and considering that it was in one of the lowest realms possible, although it was incredibly fearsome, it could not be considered heaven defying. Even at its greatest heights of usage, if he released all the poison within the pearl, he was unable to kill a Sovereign Profound Realm expert.

As for experts of the divine way… The effects of the poison would be too weak to even see any effect.

After that, due to the effects of the Mirror of Samsara, its poison origin detached itself. When it came back, the poisonous abilities slowly started to recover. During this period, he would spend a short amount of time every now and then to investigate the recovery of the poisonous half of the Sky Poison Pearl. Until today, all the poison that had been accumulated… let alone an expert in the divine way… It wouldn’t be enough to kill a normal Overlord.

The Sky Poison Pearl was however, ranked among the top in the Heavenly Profound Treasure rankings, which vastly surpassed the God Realm. In fact, it should be an existence greater than the True Gods, so much that it was on the same level as the Creation Gods. To be a treasure of such proportions, even if it possessed a little bit of what it should have, it should be so terrifying that it’d be considered heaven defying even in this era...

After accumulating its poison powers for so long, why did all of its current poison not even equal that of a tiny pin sized drop of ancient horned dragon poison—and the difference was that of heaven and earth!

Was the poison power of the Sky Poison Pearl that weak? Or... was it because it was lacking something?

This thought once again flashed through Yun Che’s mind. He started to ascend… His direction; toward the Soul Sect.