Against the Gods (Web Novel)

Chapter 1967 - The Mysterious Abyssal Monarch

Partially Edited Chapter - Rubble

Abyssal Monarch. If he had heard this title before the Abyss invasion, it would not have weighed on his conscience in the slightest. There were countless star realms, races and countries in the universe, and just as many kings, emperors and monarchs. Whatever their title might be, they were all beneath him, Emperor Yun of the Primal Chaos.

Now though? The two words were enough to drive out all of the air in his lungs.

“According to the legends of the Abyss, the air of the Pure Land is so pure that it could almost purify the soul. Not only is it overflowing with grass and flowers of all shapes, colors and sizes, its sky is so blue and clear that each cloud can be seen clearly…”

Yun Che: “...”

Chi Wuyao’s voice grew solemn. “To the people of the Abyss, the Pure Land is the most holiest place in the whole wide world. It is the sacred land they can only ever look up to, but never attain.”

“But in our world? The sacred land they dream of can be found anywhere.”

The Abyss had become the God Realm’s worst nightmare in the past few weeks, but no one knew that the most ordinary and common things they enjoyed were the greatest luxury the people of the Abyss could ever hope to obtain.

The “Eternal Pure Land”... Mo Beichen had uttered these three words before he died. It was a desire the people on this side of the world could never truly understand.

“What kind of person is the Abyssal Monarch?” Yun Che asked.

Mo Beichen’s power was beyond terrifying, and yet he was nothing more than a faithful servant of the Abyssal Monarch.

Chi Wuyao’s devilish eyes darkened, and her expression turned completely serious. “He is the ruler of the Abyss, the god of gods, and the creator of the World of Existence in the Abyss. It is no exaggeration when I say that he has existed throughout the history of the Abyss.”

“What?” Yun Che exclaimed in surprise, “Are you saying that the Abyssal Monarch has existed since before the Abyss even came to be?”

“That’s right.” Chi Wuyao nodded slowly. “At the beginning, the Abyssal Monarch used his tremendous power and a special profound artifact to create the very first ‘Land of the Living’. It was where he and many other ‘Survivors’ lived for a time.”

“After the laws governing the Abyss collapsed, and more and more energies of Primal Chaos flowed into it, the energies of extinction in certain places of the Abyss grew thinner and thinner. As a result, the Abyssal Monarch was able to expand the Land of the Living and gather more Survivors.”

“The long period after that was fairly stable. The Survivors grew their numbers via reproduction and succession, and over time they transformed into the Abyss that they have now.”

Yun Che hummed. “Are those Survivors…”

“You are correct,” Chi Wuyao said, “The first Survivors are the gods and devils who fell into the Abyss for one reason or another all those years ago!”

“However, the Abyss was a much deadlier place back then than it was now. It was so deadly that even True Gods and Devil Gods were just barely able to survive its cruel environment. Although the Land of the Living grew bigger, and the energies of extinction grew thinner later on, their population of gods and devils remained scarce because no new True Gods or Devil Gods were dropped into the Abyss. You know why. It was because the war had ended, and gods and devils had become extinct in the Primal Chaos.”

“Today, most of the True Gods existing in the Abyss were natives who were born in the Abyss. The True Gods and Devil Gods who once partook in the grand effort to create the world of the Abyss are long gone…”

“Everyone… except the Abyssal Monarch!”

Yun Che asked seriously, “Mo Beichen is a close subject of the Abyssal Monarch. He should know his liege very well, right?”

Chi Wuyao shook her head and said, “The Abyssal Monarch has no name, or rather, his true name was never known to anyone.”

Yun Che: “...?”

“The people of the Abyss have always known the Abyssal Monarch as the ‘Abyssal Monarch’ only. It is the same even if you search the oldest records of the Abyss.”

“Forget the Abyssal Knights, even the four High Priests of the Pure Land do not know what his true name is. No one has ever dared to ask him about it either.”

“It seems like his true name is a great taboo for the Abyssal Monarch even to this day.”

“Well, it’s not important,” Yun Che said with a shrug. In fact, it didn’t matter in the slightest what the Abyssal Monarch was called. All he needed to know was that he was a True God of the ancient God Race.

Chi Wuyao continued, “All the gods and devils who fell into the Abyss are dead, but the earliest creator of the world of the Abyss, the Abyssal Monarch, is still alive to this day. I have no doubt that he is far stronger than your conventional True God or Devil God. In fact, he must have enjoyed a prestigious status back when the God Race was still in power, and he hadn’t yet dropped into the Abyss.”

“I’ll go through the ancient records after this discussion. The number of high-ranking gods who were dropped into the Abyss should be pretty small, so it shouldn’t be difficult to narrow it down to a single name.”

Yun Che suddenly recalled a most important question, “How long has it been since the Abyssal Monarch first founded the world of the Abyss?”

It was the starting point of the world of the Abyss. Yun Che was certain that it was recorded quite clearly in the chronicles of the Abyss.

“Three million years,” Chi Wuyao answered.

“!?” Her answer caught Yun Che completely by surprise.

It was because the great war between the gods and the devils hadn’t even begun three million years ago!

It was as the Ancestral God had claimed, then. The laws of the Abyss had been crumbling since time immemorial, and the war had only accelerated its transformation.

In fact… three million years ago was around the time Jie Yuan was tricked by Mo E and exiled from Primal Chaos, wasn’t it?

The reason Jie Yuan and her Devil Gods were able to survive the harsh void outside Primal Chaos for three million years was thanks to the World Piercer. She had used it to create an independent space for them to live in.

Even so, Jie Yuan was covered in ugly scars from head to toe, and her Devil Gods were nearing the end of their lifespans. That was before mentioning that the harsh life had twisted their devilish souls to the point of insanity.

To think that the Abyssal Monarch not only survived the extinction-rich Abyss back then, but he was still alive to this day…

Chi Wuyao said thoughtfully, “We can only use this period as a reference though. It’s because their three million years do not exactly match our three million years, I think?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“In the Abyss, there exists a strange phenomenon known as the ‘Black Tide of Time’.”

“Black Tide of Time?” This was the first time Yun Che heard of such a thing.

If she had said “Black Tide of Space”, then he could imagine a thing or two, but time… that was a domain that Yun Che had never been able to approach.

Chi Wuyao explained, “The flow of time has always been constant, uniform, and untouchable by any external force since time immemorial. It is most likely one of the basic laws the Ancestral God bestowed to this world when she first created it.”

“It was a different story for the Abyss, however. Maybe it was because it had broken free from the Ancestral God’s laws or something, but the cycle of time in the Abyss is hardly constant. Sometimes it flows faster than normal, and sometimes it is slower. It’s kind of like tidewater.”

“To put it simply, the flow of time in the Abyss would quicken or slow down from time to time.”

Yun Che thought for a moment before replying, “I can see why you say that their three million years aren’t exactly the same as our three million years, but you also mention that it flows faster or slower periodically. There is a time difference, but it should be shorter than you think.”

“Also, most people wouldn’t notice any discrepancy even if their time was flowing faster or slower than normal. To be honest, I don’t really see—”

“—a problem with this. That’s what you’re trying to say, right?” Chi Wuyao asked.

Yun Che frowned. It was rare for Chi Wuyao to interrupt him like this, so he simply waited for further explanation.

He had entered the Eternal Heaven Pearl twice in his life, and both times the flow of time in the Eternal Heaven Divine Realm was far slower than the real world. However, he never noticed anything amiss in terms of spiritual perception. He could’ve fooled himself into thinking that time was flowing like normal if he didn’t know better.

“It’s the complete opposite, actually,” Chi Wuyao said gravely. “When the gods and the devils fought a great war against each other, the entire world was changed, and countless spaces were destroyed in the process. However, the flow of time had not been affected in the slightest.”

“It is because time is one of the most fundamental laws of the universe.”

“To tell you the truth, I would’ve arrived at the same conclusion as you if I did not possess the Nirvana Devil Emperor Soul. I would’ve thought it to be an interesting phenomenon, but paid no real attention to it. However, the term ‘Black Tide of Time’ has shaken my Nirvana Devil Emperor Soul greatly. Do you know why?”

“If a world’s wheel of time starts spiraling out of control, then it means… that every other law is beginning to fall apart as well.”

Yun Che: “...”

“Not only that, the phenomenon is growing worse and worse. At the beginning, the Black Tide of Time only happened once in a couple thousand years, and the time difference was miniscule enough that it didn’t pose too much concern. However, the period between each occurrence was growing shorter and shorter, and the order of magnitude kept growing as well.”

“Long story short, the last Black Tide of Time happened just a couple hundred years ago, and the order of magnitude was ten times worse than it was before.”

“... I see.” Yun Che murmured, “The Abyssal Monarch realized that the laws of the Abyss is on the brink of total collapse because the Black Tide of Time kept growing worse each time. That is why he’s doing everything in his power to find a way back to Primal Chaos.”

Chi Wuyao continued, “You are right to say that most people wouldn’t notice any discrepancy even if their time was flowing faster or slower than normal. That's why I’m certain that only a handful of people in the Abyss are aware of the phenomenon, and even among those people, few would truly understand the absolute, unavoidable calamity it represents.”

After a long silence, Yun Che asked, “Is there anything else?”

Chi Wuyao replied, “Most of the information I obtained from Mo Beichen’s soul are considered basic knowledge in the Abyss. I’ve also told you everything he knows about the Abyssal Monarch.”

“I’ve learned quite a bit about Mo Beichen’s life though, and I believe you should hear about it.” Chi Wuyao’s voice suddenly turned gentle. “His story is unimportant, but it is the epitome of the life of most of the people of the Abyss.”

She launched into her story before Yun Che could give her a response, “Mo Beichen was born to a middle-rank clan in a godless country, and his father is one of its elders. He was luckier than the average denizen of the Abyss, but not lucky enough to be born in a Kingdom of God where a True God’s Divine Grace would shield his growth. As a result, he had to grow up in an environment with thin abyssal dust, and it took considerable effort from his seniors to ensure that he grew up fairly strong and healthy.”

“A cruel environment leads to cruel laws of survival. He had displayed an extraordinary amount of talent since he was young, so he was given the best resources and protection the clan could afford. As for his brothers and sisters… they were abandoned because they weren’t talented enough, and they all died in abyssal dust eventually.”

“By the time he hit a hundred, less than thirty percent of the peers he grew up with were still alive.”

“After he grew strong enough to resist the corruption of the abyssal dust with his own power, he carried the hope of his clan on his shoulders and aimed to become an Abyssal Knight of the Pure Land.”

“He had ventured into the Sandy Pits and entered the Endless Fog to train himself. When he was finally strong enough to challenge the trials of the Pure Land, he bade his clan, his wife and his two daughters goodbye and followed his sponsor, an Abyssal Knight, into the Pure Land.”

“The trials to become an Abyssal Knight lasted five years, and they were harsh and cruel as a matter of course. Still, he persevered and was able to become an official Abyssal Knight.”

“However, when he returned home in glory, he discovered that his clan had mistakenly believed the rumors that he had died in the trials three years ago and stopped sheltering his wife and children.”

“His wife was only a Divine King; her cultivation barely enough to shield herself from abyssal dust, much less her two daughters. Moreover, his daughters were only twenty years old at the time, so of course they were even weaker than his wife. Three years after the clan had rescinded their protection, his two daughters finally succumbed to the corruption of the Abyssal Dust and fell gravely ill. They died just half a month before he came home.”

“His wife committed suicide after burying their two daughters.”

“Mo Beichen had returned home with a heart full of joy and supreme glory, but all he got was a nightmarish tragedy. He never even got to inform his wife and daughters that he had become a noble Abyssal Knight.”

“Heh.” Yun Che sneered. “That’s pretty pathetic and sad alright.”

“Mo Beichen was a man capable enough to become an Abyssal Knight, and yet his life was still accompanied by such misery. I can only imagine the kind of purgatory the denizens of the Abyss are struggling in… or perhaps they have already gotten used to it.”

“Mo Beichen volunteered to become a pioneer when the opportunity presented itself. He was really looking to commit suicide.”

“It was because no other group before his had ever succeeded in making it into our world. Most of them perished in the attempt, while the few lucky survivors were all thrown back into the Abyss.”