Against the Gods (Web Novel)

The God Realm of Absolute Beginning was vast and boundless, and the spiritual perception of any living being who stepped into this place would be greatly suppressed.

However, the surging aura radiating from the Vanishing Moon Celestial Palace as it went at full speed allowed Yun Che to keep track of it even after he had entered the God Realm of Absolute Beginning.

Countless profound beasts were startled as a fierce storm that appeared out of nowhere swept through this quiet pale-white world. Furthermore, the Vanishing Moon Celestial Palace did not swerve or veer off into any other direction. It continued to travel in a straight line… as if it already had a clear destination.

Time silently flowed by as Yun Che continued his relentless pursuit. Yun Che had already lost track of how long he had been chasing the Vanishing Moon Celestial Palace, but the longer this chase took, the more relentless he became. Before he knew it, he had already delved deeper into the God Realm of Absolute Beginning than ever before.

“Hm?” Qianye Ying’er suddenly made a sound. She was much more familiar with the God Realm of Absolute Beginning than Yun Che. “This direction she’s heading in. It couldn’t be that she wants to…”

“What?” Yun Che said as his forehead creased together.

“You’ll find out very soon.” Qianye Ying’er said.

The world in front of them suddenly turned wide and empty.

Mountains, ancient forests, oceans, fierce beasts… All of these things had vanished and the only thing they could see was a white emptiness that stretched beyond what their eyes could see, an emptiness that seemed to have no boundaries or limits.

The world had suddenly turned so quiet and empty that it caused everyone’s heart to relax subconsciously.

The Vanishing Moon Celestial Palace started to slow down within this white emptiness before it finally came to a quiet stop.

A red figure floated downwards and as her body solidified it became the only spot of color and beauty in this endless ashen world.

Yun Che started to slow down as well. He stared into a distance as a sense of “emptiness” like he had never felt before assailed him. He seemed to suddenly recall something before he said in a low voice, “Could this place be…”

“The Abyss of Nothingness.” Qianye Ying’er’s reply caused that name to float up in his mind.

The first time he had heard the words “Abyss of Nothingness” had been from Qianye Ying’er’s mouth when she had still been marked with the slave imprint.

It was a vast abyss that was shrouded in an eternal gray fog.

Both its legends and historical records described it as an abyss that could cause everything to【return to nothingness】. Many people had also hypothesized that this was the center of the God Realm of Absolute Beginning.

The Abyss of Nothingness was bottomless and infinite. It was shrouded in a layer of eternal gray mist, but one could vaguely glimpse the bottomless darkness beneath that mist.

All of the records regarding the Abyss of Nothingness shared one similarity. They were all utterly convinced of one thing: Anything in this universe that fell into the Abyss of Nothingness would disappear completely, and “return to nothingness”. Whether it was the living or the dead, souls or profound artifacts, mountains and seas… even energy, spiritual perception, sound, and light would vanish without a trace.

Even the True Gods and True Devils of the Ancient Era would dissolve into nothingness if they fell into this abyss, much less the mortals of the current era. They too would disappear without a trace… and there had not been any exceptions since the dawn of time.

“In the distant past, many people once sought to divine the mysteries of the Abyss of Nothingness. They tried everything and even if a Divine Sovereign or Divine Master fell in, their body, their soul, their powers, and their auras would all return nothing in an instant. In the end, no one dared to investigate it any longer and as time went by, no one even dared to approach the Abyss of Nothingness any longer.”

These were the words that Qianye Ying’er had said to Yun Che when she had first mentioned the Abyss of Nothingness to him.

But this was the first time that Yun Che had truly laid his eyes upon the legendary Abyss of Nothingness… The most bizarre, dangerous, and empty existence in the entire universe.

The universe outside the God Realm of Absolute Beginning was divided into an extremely strict hierarchy of power. However, there was no difference between an ant and a god emperor in front of the Abyss of Nothingness.

Xia Qingyue’s body floated down to the edge of the Abyss of Nothingness. Her bloodstained robes fluttered above the drifting gray mist that never faded away. Just a single step would be enough to plunge her into the abyss, consigning her to the eternal void.

“Cough… cough, cough…”

Even after her long and desperate flight, her condition had not only not gotten any better, it seemed to have worsened instead. Her body was gently trembling and every painful cough brought flecks of bloody foam to her lips.

One could well imagine just how badly her life force had been damaged by the destruction of her Purple Pylon Divine Domain.

Yun Che slowly walked forward… Qianye Ying’er, on the other hand, remained still. She also did not say anything else.

She had once witnessed the depth of Yun Che’s feelings toward Xia Qingyue, but she had also seen the depths of his hatred over the past few years.

Right now, Xia Qingyue had nowhere left to run. It was also clear that she did not have any intention to run. The conclusion of this matter, today’s events, would be decided by Yun Che… unless Yun Che truly wanted her to be the one to do it.

Yun Che stopped once he was within two dozen meters of Xia Qingyue. His ice-cold eyes met Xia Qingyue’s dull and blurry ones.

Her aura was so weak that it seemed like she was on the brink of death. There was no wind in this empty world, if not a gentle breeze would have been enough to send her to the ground.

When they had both been sixteen years of age, those words that she had whispered to him behind that red curtain when they had still been in Floating Cloud City carved her figure deeply into Yun Che’s soul… When the entire world had mocked him, had viewed him with cold eyes, the person who was most qualified to despise him had treated him with such warmth that it was burned into his soul.

During the years he had spent in Blue Wind Nation, he had chased after Xia Qingyue’s back without even noticing it.

At that time, neither of them had thought that they would scale such heights in the short span of twenty years, and they never thought that they would have become such mortal enemies either.

Her vision was blurry but Yun Che’s figure seemed so clear to her. As she looked at the quiet and unmoving Yun Che, Xia Qingyue whispered, “Your previous hesitance nearly cost you your best chance to kill me. So why are you still hesitating even now?”

Yun Che replied somberly, “If you wanted to live, you could have fled to the Brahma Monarch God Realm or the Dragon God Realm. Why did you choose this place?”

Xia Qingyue gave a smile that was filled with incredible serenity. Even though her aura was weak and frail, she still radiated the haughty might of a god emperor. “As the Moon God Emperor, I led the Moon God Realm to its destruction, so my honor and dignity will not allow me to continue living in this world. I am even less willing to stoop… to relying on someone else to live.”

“Oh really?” Yun Che’s eyes narrowed. “Before I end you, please answer one final question of mine.”

“You hope that I will tell you that… the reason why I didn’t hesitate to destroy the Blue Pole Star back then was because I did not want it to fall into the hands of all the king realms and subjecting it to an even worse fate, correct? If I gave you that answer, it would make it easier for you to accept what I did, correct?” she asked in a soft and gentle voice.

Yun Che: “...”

Xia Qingyue gave a faint smile that seemed both cold and mocking, “You’ve already become the Devil Master of the North, so why are you still clinging on to that last smidgen of naivete?”

“As the Moon God Emperor, destroying the Blue Pole Star was merely the most logical choice, the most logical conclusion at that time. The need to kill you myself… was also the same. Hesitation or inertia caused by emotions are weaknesses and flaws that a ruler must never have. Could it be that you still don’t understand that?”

“A very good answer. I’m extremely satisfied by it.” Yun Che’s eyes and voice were devoid of any warmth whatsoever. “On account of our past marriage, on account of the countless times you’ve saved my life, I can give you a quick end.”

“Farewell, Moon… God… Emperor!”

He raised a hand and flames started to wreath it.

At this time, Xia Qingyue, whose aura was so weak that it was teetering on the edge of collapse, managed to forcefully shrug off Yun Che’s profound energy suppression and jump into the pale-white abyss behind her.

Yun Che’s eyebrows twitched as he lunged forward. He tried to chase after the falling Xia Qingyue, in a bid to incinerate her midair.

A startled cry rang out behind him as a beam of golden light erupted behind him. It wrapped around his waist and forcefully yanked him backwards right before the flames shot out of his hands.

“Don’t go near it!” Qianye Ying’er’s voice trembled for an instant as she shouted those words.

Even though she knew that Yun Che only wanted to chase after Xia Qingyue and end her life with his own hands, even though she knew that he wouldn’t really jump in, the terror that abruptly seized her heart in that instant caused her heart and soul to violently shudder.

A lonely red figure fell into the bottomless pale-white abyss which could even return a True God to nothingness. But as her body fell through the layers of white mist, her voice rang up from that empty world.

“Yun Che, remember this. Not being able to kill you or Qianye is the biggest regret of my life. As for me… In the end… I didn’t die at your hands…”

The very last words she said were still as cruel and merciless as ever.

She started to slowly close her eyes.

Her life was ebbing away, her senses were fading, and even the world itself started to gradually disappear.

My duty...

The reason I was created...

Finally...

It’s just that...

I still had...

Some regrets in the end...

And that tiny smidgen...

Of yearning that never should have existed...

……

……

That red figure vanished into the Abyss of Nothingness. Xia Qingyue’s aura disappeared, it had truly vanished from the heavens and the earth, vanished from the Primal Chaos Realm.

Yun Che stood at the edge of the Abyss of Nothingness. He coldly gazed at the boundless white void… He was the one who had severely wounded Xia Qingyue and forced her to leap into the Abyss of Nothingness. But he had not truly been the one to end her life and he still felt a little regretful over that.

“As expected,” Qianye Ying’er said, “the moment she stopped in this place, I knew that she had chosen to end her own life using this method. This was the best way to preserve her dignity as the Moon God Emperor.”

“I am curious about one thing.” Qianye Ying’er’s eyebrows sank slightly. “The Moon God Emperor’s imperial robes are purple but she chose to wear those red robes instead. Furthermore, there weren’t any divine markings on them. Do you know the reason for that?”

“I don’t know,” Yun Che curtly replied before he turned around. “Let’s go.”

THUMP!

His heart suddenly thumped violently in his chest the moment he chose to step away from the Abyss of Nothingness. It was so intense that he felt as if thousands of heavy mallets had crashed against it violently, so intense that it caused him to abruptly freeze in place.

“What’s wrong?” Qianye Ying’er instantly sensed the abnormality.

“It’s nothing,” Yun Che replied, but he had pressed his hand to his heart without even realizing it.

What’s going on?

Why did I suddenly feel such a strange feeling of emptiness and loss?

It felt as if a part of my life… had been gouged out of my body.

He fiercely gripped his chest and it took a long time before this strange and sudden feeling finally started to dissipate.

Qianye Ying’er did not immediately follow after Yun Che. She suddenly turned around to look deeply into the Abyss of Nothingness.

As the scenes of the day replayed in her mind, her golden brows started to knit together. For some odd reason, a very strange feeling started to form in her heart.

It seemed as if Xia Qingyue… was looking for death?

Even before the Moon God Realm had been blown up by the Devil Crystals of Eternal Darkness, those violet eyes of her seemed to contain this determination to die.

However, she soon tossed aside this illogical and baseless idea. She turned around to look at the floating Vanishing Moon Celestial Palace.

Now that Xia Qingyue’s aura had completely disappeared, the Vanishing Moon Celestial Palace had become a masterless item.

She lightly tapped the air with a finger. With a flash of profound light, the Vanishing Moon Celestial Palace had been put inside her portable space.

Even though it had originally belonged to Xia Qingyue, it was simply too much of a waste to abandon the fastest profound ark in the Eastern Divine Region in a place like this.

Yun Che, whose back was facing her, slowly extended his hand and reached into the Sky Poison Pearl. When he opened his hand again, he was holding the Mirror of Samsara… an item he hadn’t taken out in a long time.

The plain and non-reflective surface of the mirror was adorned with many cracks.

Cracks?

What was going on?

The Mirror of Samsara had remained motionless inside the Sky Poison Pearls for years now, so why had cracks suddenly appeared on its surface?

This was a Heavenly Profound Treasure! It was an artifact that even a True God would not be able to scratch, so why had multiple cracks suddenly appeared on its surface...

However, as his eyes started to focus on the mirror, those cracks slowly mended themselves in front of him… After a few breaths had passed, the cracks had vanished without trace and the mirror had been completely restored.

It was as if the cracks had never existed, as if it had just been a trick of the eye.

“...” Yun Che gave a deep frown. He lapsed into a long period of silence, but he simply couldn’t figure out what was going on. He had no choice but to keep the Mirror of Samsara and set this matter aside for now. When he finally looked up again, black light was shining in his eyes.

The main culprit, Zhou Xuzi, and the one who had destroyed all that he loved, Xia Qingyue… They were the two people he hated the most in his life. He had now slaughtered the realm of the former and forced the latter into the Abyss of Nothingness, causing her to disappear from the face of this earth.

The rest would be far simpler!