Against the Gods (Web Novel)

Chapter 2010 - Qilin Bone Spirit Orchid

Partially Edited Chapter - Rubble

Yun Che had received countless opportunities in the past, but none had ever come so easy yet so heavy.

After all, this gift was backed by the Qilin’s nature and their gratitude and respect toward the Heretic God, Ni Xuan.

Yun Che felt a little guilty for manipulating the Qilin God as he did, but he immediately quashed that feeling.

So long as he was still in the Abyss, he must not allow himself to be moved by anyone. He must maintain his clarity of mind at all times.

“It is up to fate how compatible your body is with my origin blood and origin marrow. An ordinary person would take over a decade to refine them, and a particularly compatible person would take several years. But since you have the Creation God of Elements’ profound veins, a few months should be all you need.”

I can refine this in just a few days, Yun Che thought to himself while nodding strongly at the fading eyes. “Don’t worry, senior Qilin. I will make sure that the lineage of the Qilin God shines the brightest light in Primal Chaos.”

He specifically said “Primal Chaos” instead of the Abyss.

“Very good.” The Qilin God smiled as the divine light dimmed entirely and left behind only a pair of rocky, ancient eyes. “With this, I have no regrets… though I suppose I have some concerns.”

Yun Che looked up. “Feel free to tell me what your concerns are, senior.”

A long silence later, the Qilin God ultimately spoke up. “During the war between the Gods and the Devils, my Qilin God Race was mostly massacred, and my ancestor, the true Qilin God was driven into the God Realm of Absolute Beginning. Cornered yet unwilling to perish under the hands of the devil gods, he and whatever remained of my race jumped into the Abyss. They thought they were committing suicide, but instead they were saved by the Abyssal Monarch.”

Some of Yun Che’s questions were resolved then. He was wondering why the qilins were driven into the Abyss since only True Gods who had committed an unforgivable crime would be executed this way. Knowing the qilins’ nature, he just could not imagine them committing such a crime. As it turned out, it was voluntary suicide.

“However, the erosion of abyssal dust was an inescapable nightmare. Those who are fully corrupted will transform into abyssal beasts who know nothing but destruction.”

“Words cannot describe the pain and despair I felt as my beloved, my family, my respected seniors, and my race slowly turned into monsters. All I can say is that it was a million times worse than just dying. Even now, that nightmare still haunts me deeply.”

“If my ancestor hadn’t commanded me to live, if I wasn’t waiting for a miracle, I would’ve gone to the other world a long time ago.”

“...” Yun Che couldn’t mouth any words of consolation. As someone who had felt the same kind of pain, pain so bad that he once completely lost the will to live, he was certain… that the Qilin God’s despair could only be worse. He would never be able to sympathize with that level of pain, and so he didn’t have the right to offer it any words of consolation.

“In just a few generations, the Qilin God Race died to the last, leaving only me and my ancestor behind.”

“My ancestor was beyond powerful. He was even more powerful than the Seven Gods of the Six Kingdom of Gods are today. However, the Abyss was also far deadlier back then than it is now, and abyssal dust already erodes us way faster than you humans. As strong as my ancestor was, he kept losing his power and his body until he fell all the way from the True God Realm… to the Divine Limit Realm.”

“At the time, over ninety percent of his body was corrupted by abyssal dust.”

Yun Che was stunned. To be able to maintain his consciousness and even remain at the Divine Limit Realm despite having lost over ninety percent of himself to abyssal dust… just how strong was this ancestral Qilin God back then?

He didn’t interrupt the Qilin God. Its life aura was still dissipating at an incredible rate, and the Qilin Sacred Palace was slowly fading as well. It all indicated that the Qilin God didn’t have much time left.

“The elemental seed was first received by my ancestor. Had he chosen to keep it to himself, I’m sure he would have lived for a long time. Instead, he chose to give it to me.”

“My ancestor told me that it was a gift from the heavens that the seed of power had happened upon us, but it ultimately didn’t belong to this world. He hoped that one day someone would be able to take it back to its world.”

“He said that from the moment he found the seed, it became our final duty to protect it until the right person showed up. No matter what we did, we mustn’t allow it to fall into the hands of a malicious being and be stained with filth and sin.”

Yun Che couldn’t help but be moved by this.

The ancient Qilin Gods had gone extinct in the God Realm a long time ago. Not a shred of their inheritance or their bloodline had remained to this day. It was why the qilins worshiped the Ink Qilins led by Qi Tianli as their leader. Every other Qilin in Primal Chaos was just an ordinary qilin.

There were some records regarding the Qilin Gods, and it was hard to tell what was true and what was false. They all shared one commonality though, and that was the Qilin God existed… to protect it all.

“This duty is why my ancestor wanted me to live no matter what. Besides that, he gave me a final order. He wanted me to kill him before he was fully corroded by abyssal dust.”

Yun Che sighed. “You couldn’t do it in the end, could you?”

“You are correct. My ancestor lowered all of his defenses so I could kill him, but… I just couldn’t.”

It had been hundreds of thousands of years since that day, but the Qilin God’s voice was still tinged with deep pain. It claimed that it had no regrets, but only it knew if it regretted this particular decision or not.

“In the end, I chose to knock out my ancestor and carry him into the Endless Fog.”

By now, Yun Che had figured out what the Qilin God’s final “concern” was.

He didn’t know if the Qilin God had made the right choice.

Rationally, the Qilin God should have killed its ancestor, but that was its ancestor, the one who had willingly given up his chance to live to it. How could it be rational about this?

By knocking him out and carrying to the Endless Fog… at last it could pretend that its ancestor the Qilin God was still alive in another form.

Yun Che asked, “Does the ancestral Qilin God still exist in the Endless Fog?”

“That’s right,” the Qilin God answered, “he is one of the strongest abyssal beasts in the Endless Fog.”

Yun Che: “...”

“My ancestor was a great, merciful qilin who never wavered from his beliefs—protection and kindness—his whole life. Even when he was at his strongest, he was unwilling to harm even the smallest and weakest of innocents. Today, god only knows how many innocent profound practitioners he has killed against his will.”

“Back then, he was the most respected qilin be it in this world or the other world. Today, all that is left of his name is infamy. It's all my fault. I have committed a grave sin against my ancestor, and there is no way I can face him in the afterlife.”

“So,” Yun Che said, “You wish for me to… free him if I encounter him in the Endless Fog?”

By now, the Qilin God’s giant pupils had narrowed to just tiny slits, and his voice sounded as ephemeral as a dying candle flame. “I have only repaid what I owe. You owe me nothing, so I have no right to entrust this task to you. I can… only… beg…”

“I will.” Yun Che nodded firmly. “If one day I am strong enough to do what you ask, then I promise to give him the slumber he deserves.”

The Qilin God’s eyes closed completely and slowly disappeared. A final few whispers entered Yun Che’s soul,

“A million words isn’t enough to convey my thanks… I was already nearing the end of my lifespan even if I hadn’t returned the seed to you, so you don’t need to worry about the Abyssal Monarch suspecting foul play… or rather, I’m sure he has forgotten about me a long time ago.”

“Remember, this secret realm will collapse in six hours. Now go… may your future be as bright as my ancestor’s light.”

One final yellow flash later, its voice forever fell into silence.

The Qilin Sacred Palace that had isolated everything disappeared completely as well.

He was back in the outside world where the sand and dust reigned supreme… but a drastic change overcame them all of a sudden.

The Earth Spirits in the sand suddenly stopped dancing. Instead, they swam around in panic as if they were frightened by something.

The quick sand beneath Yun Che’s feet also lost its cohesion all of a sudden. Then, it began sinking downward.

At first, it was sinking very, very slowly. However, it gradually picked up speed as if there was a gigantic maw underneath that was consuming all the sand.

The rock pillars that had stood firm for god knows how many years started breaking one by one. It was a loud signal of the beginning of a disaster.

Since Yun Che had retaken the Earth Seed, the earth element in this world had completely lost its source and its order. Since the Qilin God’s life was tied to the Qilin God Realm’s existence, its death also meant the death of this world. That said, the origin blood and the origin marrow It left Yun Che was covered in a gentle barrier that showed no signs of dissipating whatsoever.

Yun Che carefully deposited the items in the Sky Poison Pearl and bowed deeply in the direction where the Qilin God once was. Then, he flew toward the west where the exit was located.

Right now, his only task left was to leave the Qilin God Realm and find a safe place. As for how he should explain his departure not even a day after he came in, that was easy.

He didn’t get too far when his eyes suddenly caught a glimmer of something.

What is that?

The collapse wasn’t just happening at the Qilin God Realm’s resting place. It was happening everywhere in the Qilin God Realm.

To the distant south, Long Jiang was slowly moving toward the east while being blown by sand and dust. She looked like a boat trying to survive the perilous sea. However, neither the solitude nor the dangers could cause her to balk in the slightest.

The yellow qilin light to the northeast suddenly grew richer, and a gigantic palace appeared out of nowhere. Thinking that she had been discovered by the Qilin God, she stopped in her tracks and didn’t move for a very long time. However, no aura tried to touch her, and a while later she decided to resume her journey. This time, she was even slower and more careful than before.

The palace would shine for a while longer when its light turned dim all of a sudden. It wouldn’t stop until it had completely faded.

The yellow qilin light that used to surround the entire eastern sky had vanished as well.

She paused in her tracks, and this time, she didn’t move again. It was because the light’s disappearance… meant that the Qilin God was dead.

As if to prove her right, she saw the earth spirits panicking, and the quick sand slowly sinking to the bottom. Her soul grew as distraught as the earth spirits, and her heart sank like the quick sand. A deep pain, helplessness and despair slowly spread across her whole body.

Why…

Why today of all days…

I was so close…

Am I going to lose even my last hope…

It was at this moment she caught sight of a strange glimmer. It was accompanied with an aura that made Long Jiang feel like she was dreaming.

The glimmer had been hidden deep underground. Its light and its aura concealed by a rich amount of earth elements. But now that order had crumbled, and the sand was rapidly sinking to the bottom, its presence was finally revealed.

It was so far away, and yet her eyes captured the divine light clearly. It wasn’t just dust that was obscuring one’s vision. There was also thick abyssal dust that greatly diminished one’s spiritual perception and aura. However, she could feel and see the aura despite all that.

Unbelievable joy replaced her pain in an instant. Not caring to conceal herself any longer, she unleashed her full power and charged straight toward the light.

At the same time, the Helian Empire, Qilin Worship Alliance, Boulder Profound Sect and Thousand Blade Sect were stunned by the sudden collapse of the secret realm as well. They didn’t know it was collapsing, only that the world had suddenly fallen into disorder.

Just when they were attempting to find the source of the change, a powerful aura from the east pricked everyone’s senses like a knife.

When the aura entered their bodies, they felt like their senses were several times clearer than before. What shocked them even more was that their earth profound energy had suddenly circulated on their own as if they couldn’t control their joy.

“What… is that!?”

Helian Jue, Zhai Kexie, Wan Lei and Ximen Borong all looked deeply stunned. When they looked to the east, they saw a faint but unmistakable yellow light pierced right through their souls.

“How is it so pure that we can sense it even from so far away!?” Ximen Borong exclaimed in disbelief.

As soon as he said this, all four men thought of the exact same words.

“Could it be…”

Ku Xian said slowly, “To cleanse the soul and stir the profound veins from thousands of kilometers away… it could only be… the legendary…”

“Qilin Bone Spirit Orchid!”

Boom!

There was a loud crack as Ximen Borong, Wan Lei and Zhai Kexie exploded toward the east.

Helian Jue was slower, but he too let out a strange cry and rushed to the east when he realized what had happened.

“We need to follow them! The rest of you, stay where you are!” The three strongest elders of the Boulder Profound Sect ordered before chasing after the three leaders. The Thousand Blade Sect and Qilin Worship Alliance’s strongest were doing the same thing.

As for the Helian Empire, Ku Xian was the strongest profound practitioner besides Helian Jue. The Boulder Profound sect and the Thousand Blade Sect had three Half-Step Divine Extinction Realm elders, and even the chief hall master of the Qilin Worship Alliance was a Half-Step Divine Extinction Realm profound practitioner. Even if Helian Jue managed to get to the Qilin Bone Spirit Orchid first, it was highly unlikely that he would be able to keep it from the others.

That was why he had no choice but to follow.

Just as Ku Xian was about to take action, Mo Cangying appeared next to him and said, “I’ll come with you, master.”

Ku Xuan hesitated for a second, but there was no time. He nodded, grabbed Mo Cangying, and flew toward the east.

“Master! Ninth Senior Brother!”

Helian Lingzhu’s voice was completely overshadowed by the explosions of over a dozen of profound energies, so she could only look to the east helplessly together with the other disciples. Yun Che lay to the west, Long Jiang to the north, and the four major factions from the east… and they were all headed toward the glimmer of yellow.