Against the Gods (Web Novel)

Chapter 1968 - Strange Mirror

Partially Edited Chapter - Rubble

Now that he thought about it, Mo Beichen’s perpetually indifferent eyes had felt strangely empty. It was as if he had nothing besides his honor as an Abyssal Knight.

Of course, as a member of the Primal Chaos, it was impossible for Yun Che to feel any true sympathy for the man.

It was at this moment Yun Che asked Chi Wuyao the question he was most interested in having answered, “The forcefield in the tunnel leading toward the Abyss was powerful enough to stop even Jie Yuan from descending completely. How on earth did the people of the Abyss overcome it and teleport their people all the way to the God Realm of Absolute Beginning?”

Chi Wuyao took a brief moment to arrange her thoughts before answering, “In essence, they did it via space piercing.”

“Space piercing?” Yun Che accepted the explanation immediately. “That makes sense.”

Who was the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor? She was the Devil Emperor who ruled the Devil Gods. If the forcefield was powerful enough to make her wary, then of course the True Gods of the Abyss would not be able to resist it.

In other words, the people of the Abyss were able to deliver the pioneers to the God Realm of Absolute Beginning not because they had broken through the forcefield, but because they had pierced through space itself before commencing a teleportation.

“You know better than me the condition of the Abyssal passage thanks to the soul memory the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor left behind for you. It is no exaggeration to say that it is currently existing in a form that completely defies common sense or normal understanding. The forcefield is powerful enough to twist and destroy any form of external interference.”

“Therefore, it could not have been easy for the people of the Abyss to pierce through its space.”

Yun Che completely agreed with Chi Wuyao. The pulling force in the tunnel had been so powerful that Jie Yuan had given up on her original plan to explore the Abyss despite the fact that she was a Devil Emperor, and the World Piercer had a lot more energy than it currently had.

“How on earth did they do it then? How did they do what the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor and the World Piercer had failed to do?” Yun Che said with a frown.

Chi Wuyao said slowly, “As I’ve told you before, the World of Existence in the Abyss had begun with the Abyssal Monarch creating the first Land of the Living with his tremendous power and an unknown profound artifact.”

“That unknown profound artifact is a spatial artifact.”

“There was a lot more abyssal dust back then than it has now, so the burden of maintaining the Land of the Living fell mostly on the spatial profound artifact. In fact, it had had to unleash its power for so long that it eventually ran out of energy and stopped working completely.”

“Luckily for them, the abyssal dust in many areas of the Abyss had become much weaker by then, so they no longer had to rely on the spatial profound artifact to maintain the Land of the Living anymore. The spatial profound artifact fell into a deep slumber after over exerting itself, and it wasn’t until much later that it slowly recovered.”

“So,” Yun Che said, “This spatial profound artifact is what the Abyssal Monarch used to pierce space?”

“That is correct.” Chi Wuyao nodded lightly. “In fact, the Abyssal Monarch had been attempting to pierce the tunnel with the spatial profound artifact since a very, very long time ago. Every time the spatial profound artifact fully recovers its strength, he would gather the power of himself and all true gods of the Abyss and attempt to create a spatial passage that pierced right into the God Realm of Absolute Beginning.”

“As it turned out, the combined power of every True God in the Abyss and that strange yet powerful spatial profound artifact was strong enough to pierce through the forcefield. However, the terrifying forcefield also distorted spatial passage substantially.”

“So they tried again and again. Every time they failed, they would make the appropriate adjustments and wait for the spatial profound artifact to recharge before making their next attempt.”

“The forcefield affecting the Abyssal passage is constant, which means that they only needed to succeed one time. After that, they simply need to retrace their footsteps next time and achieve the same results.”

“...” Yun Che’s heart sank when he heard this.

“Each attempt uses up every drop of energy the spatial profound artifact possesses, and at first it was incredibly slow to recover. Assuming that Mo Beichen’s knowledge was correct, it had taken the spatial profound artifact several thousand years to recover after their very first spatial piercing attempt. However, it started recovering faster and faster afterward, which suggests that the Abyssal Monarch has drastically shortened its recovery period.”

“Today, it only needs fifty years to fully recover its strength. In other words…”

Chi Wuyao stared straight into Yun Che’s eyes and said, “The spatial passage connecting the Abyss and the God Realm of Absolute Beginning will open in just fifty years, and this time, the people who appear in our world will not be pioneers!”

“Fifty years…” Yun Che slowly clenched his fists while responding with a terse smile, “I never thought that number would chill me to the bone.”

“I’m sorry, but you’ve forgotten something.”

Chi Wuyao’s next words sank Yun Che’s heart into the coldest abyss. “Remember the Black Tide of Time? The Abyss is currently experiencing a ‘high tide’, so their time is moving ten times faster than hours.”

“In other words, fifty years in the Abyss…”

“Is just five years in our world!”

Crack… crack crack…

Yun Che slowly rose to his feet. His finger bones were literally dislocating from the sheer amount of force he was putting on them.

His expression seemed dark and lost. He did not say anything for a very long time.

Fifty years was but a brief moment in the long river of history. It was impossible to cause any fundamental changes in such a short time.

Mo Beichen could’ve shown up fifty years later, and he still would have felt as powerless and desperate as he was now.

Five years? On a universal scale, it was as short as the snap of a finger…

Chi Wuyao had also risen to her feet. She gently held his arm and watched him in silence.

For a time, the only sound that disturbed the silence was Yun Che’s chaotic and violent heartbeat.

A very long time later, Yun Che finally said, “The energies of Primal Chaos in this world are scarce, so there is a limit to how powerful one can become. Another five thousand or even fifty thousand years could pass, and it would still be impossible to achieve a qualitative leap in power. In that case, what does it matter if the enemy arrives in fifty years or only five?”

His tone was calm, and his heartbeat became steady when he reached the end of his sentence.

It was time to make a decision.

Yun Che turned his head toward Chi Wuyao and asked, “Did you find out exactly what that strange spatial profound artifact is?”

“Unfortunately, no.” Chi Wuyao shook her head. “That said, Mo Beichen did glimpse a vague outline of the profound artifact right before he was delivered into the Abyssal passage.”

“If I’m not mistaken, it looks like an oddly-shaped mirror.”

Mirror…

Suddenly, Chi Wuyao’s vision blurred, and terrible pain erupted from her soul sea.

She subconsciously pressed a hand to her forehead as she let out a groan.

“!?” Yun Che hurriedly caught her wrist. “What’s wrong?”

“...” Eyes still looking a little dazed, Chi Wuyao slowly lowered her hand and muttered, “Mirror… Mirror…”

Yun Che whispered, “... Did you remember something?”

Chi Wuyao closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them once more, she said, “My Nirvana Devil Emperor Soul had reacted to my mention of that oddly-shaped mirror, and I can’t remember the last time it reacted this intensely.”

“Spatial profound artifact… mirror…” She muttered again, “there must be a relevant imprint in the Nirvana Devil Emperor Soul… Ugh!”

Chi Wuyao’s face became warped in pain once more.

She had inherited only a tiny fragment of the Nirvana Devil Emperor Soul. The ancient memories engraved in it were broken, incomplete and blurry to say the least, so it was rare that it reacted to anything at all. However, it was also a fact that it had reacted most violently when she had connected the idea of a spatial profound artifact and an oddly-shaped mirror.

Clearly, whatever this mirror-shaped spatial profound artifact was, it used to be incredibly important to the Nirvana Devil Emperor.

Chi Wuyao tried her best to recall the specifics, but all she got for her effort was terrible pain. She could not recall any detail at all.

“That is enough,” Yun Che said gently, “Your soul is still injured from the battle against Mo Beichen. You should not stress it more than it already is.”

“Okay.” Chi Wuyao stopped pushing herself. “I’ll tell you roughly about the power structure of the world of the Abyss then.”

“Actually, can you save that for another time?” Yun Che said. “You can tell me when your soul is fully rested.”

“The more I know, the harder it is for me to stay calm.” He looked outside the hall. “Until then, I would like to use this time to do what I must do, and… figure out my future steps properly.”

…………

The air was thin, cold, and tinged with a bit of anxiety and chaos.

In the sky, Yun Che stared at the world beneath his feet but could not bring himself to wonder the kind of panic it was drowning in right now.

He stared blankly at the bloody marks on his palm for a time. He had recovered much after several days of peace and quiet, but his entire body was still covered in fading scars that could only be described as gruesome.

Every time he thought the turmoil in his life was over, a greater tragedy would pour down on his head like a cold bucket.

Perhaps it was fated that he would lead a tumultuous life for eternity.

“Father…”

Yun Wuxin called out to him while walking over to him with light footsteps. She stared at him with deep worry in her eyes.

Instead of turning around to face her, he said in a gentle voice, “I would like to take a walk, Wuxin. Will you join me?”

“Okay.” Yun Wuxin nodded obediently. “Where are we going, father?”

“...” The silence lasted longer than expected before he finally said, “Shuhe’s place.”

Yun Che and Yun Wuxin passed through a spatial profound formation and arrived at the Deep Sea Realm.

Ever since the Deep Sea Divine Pearl was destroyed, the Ten Directions Deep Sea Realm had been absorbed in a dark and hopeless atmosphere.

Wherever he looked, listless guards with empty eyes shambled about seemingly without a soul.

Cang Shuhe quickly detected his presence and appeared by his side. She was accompanied by Rui Yi as a matter of course.

“You’re still injured, husband! You should have called me over to your place if you needed me!”

She looked him up and down worriedly while chiding him in an urgent voice. She relaxed only after she had confirmed that his aura was fairly stable.

“Relax, auntie Shuhe. There’s nothing my father’s better at than recovering,” Yun Wuxin consoled smilingly.

Cang Shuhe was doing her best to conceal her feelings, but it still took Yun Che no effort to glimpse the heavy sorrow and grief she carried in her heart and soul.

“Where is your brother buried, Shuhe?” Yun Che asked quietly.

Cang Shuhe’s eyes froze for a second before she shook her head. “When my brother was still alive, he said many times he could not imagine why anyone would want to be trapped in one place after they had died. He said he would rather be scattered across the sea and follow the waves to everywhere.”

“That is why I have not moved him into the ancestral tomb. His remains have already been scattered across the God Realm of Absolute Beginning, and as for his belongings, I have scattered them across the deep sea as he asked when he was still living.”

“...” Yun Che’s lips moved, but he didn’t say anything.

Cang Shuhe continued, “Brother left behind a soul voice for me and all the Sea Gods before he passed away, and he claimed that the unforgivable sinner of the Deep Sea descent does not deserve to have a memorial tablet in the Deep Sea Realm. He himself does not wish for such a thing.”

Cang Shuhe raised her head a little. It took her every ounce of control to fight back the tears that threatened to slide down her cheeks. “I have followed his wishes to the letter.”

Cang Shitian was the former Deep Sea God Emperor, and yet he had left behind no body and entered no tomb. He did not even have a memorial tablet to remember him by.

It was beyond sorrowful, but it was beyond cool as well.

After Yun Che recovered from his surprise, he smiled a little. “That sounds like him alright.”

Cang Shuhe said, “I know you wish to see him, but… I am sure my brother is beyond honored by the thought alone.”

“It’s the other way around.” Yun Che sighed. “The world is beyond honored to have had him. I would not be standing here today if it wasn’t for him.”

“...” Cang Shuhe slowly closed her eyes. “If my brother could hear this, then I am sure… that he would pass on without regret.”

Yun Che shook his head. “I wonder. He was a man who cared nothing for another’s opinion of him. Just the same, it seems unlikely he would care if someone pays him their last respects or not.”

Cang Shuhe stared at his eyes for a moment before saying softly, “Husband, your eyes are telling me that you have made a very important decision.”

“Yes.” Yun Che stared back into the eyes that seemed to hold all the gentleness in the universe and said, “There is a place I must go… no matter what.”

“... ?” Yun Wuxin did not understand what he was saying and looked up at him in puzzlement.

Cang Shuhe’s lips parted as murmured almost too quietly for anyone to hear, “Is it… the Abyss?”

“Ah!?” Yun Wuxin exclaimed in shock before clutching her father’s sleeves instinctively.

“Mm.” Yun Che nodded before smiling at her. “As expected of you. I knew you would be able to figure out my thoughts even if I tried to hide them.”