Against the Gods (Web Novel)

Blue Wind Year 1099, July 2nd.

Even though I am still young, I can still clearly remember that this is summer. During this time in the past years, the sun would be especially bright and scorching, the outside world would be covered with a golden sheen, and the night air would be filled with the non-stop chirping of cicadas.

Then why does the present me feel so cold right now?

I’ve already not dared to leave the house for many days, because the wind outside was simply too big and too scary. The wind left heavy and opaque sandstorms in its wake, making it so that no one could see things that were far away.

The wind was very very hot yesterday and I was so afraid that the house would start burning. But today, all the water in the house turned to ice and even though Mother had wrapped me in many layers of bedding, I still felt so cold.

The taste of the water has changed, the taste of the air has changed as well...

Three fires broke out in the city yesterday and two earthquakes happened as well. When we heard the news, Mother and I were no longer the least bit shocked, because everyone had already grown used to it.

Little Huang, who had accompanied me for many years, ran off and did not return again. Mother did not let me go look for it, but I miss it every single day.

Father is an outstanding profound practitioner. Last year he became the new tutor at New Moon Profound Palace… That’s right, it was the very same New Moon Profound Palace that the great Spiritual Master Yun had stayed in before. This was the happiest thing that had ever happened to our family. Father also promised me that after I turned ten years old, he would personally instruct me in the cultivation of the profound way.

This year, I am already ten years old but Father has not kept his promise.

He has become really strange, really scary...

Father, who had always been so gentle, has been constantly angry throughout this year. He would yell loudly at Mother and I, and he has smashed a lot of things… and at his scariest, he actually hit mother once...

After that, Father knelt on the floor and cried bitterly… Mother also cried along with him...

Father said that he did not know what had come over him… From that moment onwards, he would very rarely return home and Mother’s tears have multiplied...

It wasn’t only my family, everyone seems to have changed as well. New Moon City has become very noisy, and the sound of constant fighting and brawling could be heard. From the beginning of last year, it has already been forbidden for profound beasts to be raised within the city and New Moon Profound Palace also stopped taking in new disciples.

They said that these actions were not only limited to our New Moon City. In fact, this was going in across the entire Blue Wind Nation.

Just now, I was startled awake by a nightmare yet again. This year, I have already lost track of the number of times I’ve had nightmares, and every single nightmare was so terrifying… My temper has also become really bad and I am always butting heads with my mother. Every time this happens, I feel regretful afterwards. But after that, I lose control of my temper again...

Just what exactly is happening to me...

Mother said that the elements in this world have already been thrown into chaos. I did not understand. The only thing I do understand is that this world has become foreign to me, it’s becoming more and more scary, and even I am also slowly starting to turn scary.

Many people are saying that a huge disaster is about to fall on our heads and everything that is happening to us right now are omens of the destructions of this world. Mother said that the world we live in is being protected by “Spiritual Master Yun” and the “Phoenix Goddess”, so no matter how big the calamity is, we don’t need to be afraid, everything will get better in the end. However, I’m still afraid, I’m living in fear every single day...

That star is growing brighter and brighter, especially when it’s nighttime. At night, the entire easter sky would be dyed with a blood-red light. Mother said that this is an auspicious light, but our neighbor, Uncle Wang, said that it was the eye of a devil.

I really hope that all of this is just a dream and that once I wake up from this dream, the world will return to what it had been before. Little Huang would still be there wagging his tail, Father would still be as gentle as he was in the past, and Mother would still be as cheery as ever…

…………

In Blue Wind Nation’s New Moon City, a little girl who was about ten years of age peered outside the window while swaddled in thick bedding. The world she beheld in her eyes: A gloomy sky and wild winds that stirred up yellow sand as they wreaked havoc across an increasingly foreign world.

----

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An entire year had passed since the day the profound beast rampages had suddenly erupted. In this one year, the Blue Pole Star had descended into chaos like it had never seen before.

Beasts were rioting, people were rioting, and even the weather and the elements themselves seemed to be rioting...

During this one year, Yun Che had been running all over the place and he had been extremely busy. He had used light profound energy to cleanse away the invisible devilish aura that had invaded the Blue Pole Star countless times. He was extremely glad that he had returned to the Blue Pole Star when he had “died” three years ago. If not, a Profound Sky Continent and Illusory Demon Realm without him around would have definitely already become like the current Azure Cloud Continent, a wasteland that had been trampled by calamity.

Today, Yun Che once again released light profound energy to cleanse the two continents and it had only been a short seven days since he had last done so.

Upon finishing his purification, he cut through space and arrived at tlFloating Cloud City’s Xiao Family residence. Just as he had appeared, he heard the distant sound of a child weeping and a man scolding someone… He immediately recognized that the crying boy was Xiao Yong’an and that the man who was scolding him loudly was actually Xiao Yun!

“Do you know how many hours I would spend cultivating when I, your father, was at your age? If you can’t even stand this little bit of suffering, how can you be worthy of being a man of the Xiao Family!?”

Xiao Yong’an immediately started wailing even louder under Xiao Yun’s loud rebuke.

Yun Che frowned as he swiftly entered the building.

“You’re not allowed to cry! You’re already eight years old yet you still spend the whole day crying and whining! If you keep on crying, then don’t say that you are my, Xiao Yun’s, son in the future!”

“Still crying! You’re still crying! Didn’t I tell you to stop crying already!!?”

PAAA!!

A resounding slap rang out in the air just as Yun Che entered the air above the small courtyard.

A deathly stillness instantly descended upon this place, and it was followed by Xiao Yong’an’s wails which had become even more heart-wrenching than before.

Xiao Yun’s hand stopped in midair and he stared at the bright red palm print on Xiao Yong’an’s face as he stood there completely dumbstruck...

Number Seven Under Seven hurriedly rushed inside, looking at the hand that Xiao Yun had extended and the palm print on Xiao Yong’an’s face. She stood there stunned for a moment before she suddenly rushed over to hug Xiao Yong’an. She yelled at Xiao Yun, “Big Brother Yun, you… have you gone crazy… Have you gone crazy!?”

“Ah, Yong’an, be good… Yong’an don’t cry. Your father, he didn’t mean to do this… Let’s go and find Great Grandfather.”

Xiao Yun’s hand shook and his eyes grew unfocused, “I… What have I done… I…”

He muttered to himself dispiritedly for a while before he hugged his head and suddenly started to cry bitterly. He could not bring himself to believe that he had actually hit his most precious son, the son who was even more precious to him than his own life… He could not believe that the person just now had been him...

Yun Che waved a hand and light profound energy engulfed the Xiao Family residence. However, he did not show himself, he merely turned around and soundlessly left.

Once he had exited Floating Cloud City, Yun Che let out a long and drawn-out sigh.

Xiao Yun’s temperament had always been mild and gentle, and he also had power that was at the Tyrant Profound Realm, but even he had started to become affected by this and his emotions had gone wildly out of control.

The situation had already become more and more serious. If it continued on like this… Yun Che was afraid that even given his power, it would still be difficult for him to retain complete control over the situation.

As he looked to the east and was bathed in the clearly abnormal wind, Yun Che fell into a long period of deep silence, and he remained so until the skies started to get dark. Finally, he slowly lifted a hand and a cluster of moss green light floated above his palm.

With purifying power in his left hand and the Sky Poison power in his right… This dark green light was, shockingly enough, the Sky Poison Light that came from the Sky Poison Pearl.

He stared straight at the Sky Poison Light, his gaze growing more and more focused.

“Master, could it be that you want to…” He Ling’s voice rang out from within the Sky Poison Pearl. As the Sky Poison Poison Spirit, she could naturally sense that Yun Che was inspecting the Sky Poison poison power that the Sky Poison Pearl had managed to recover.

She was also even more aware that the poison power that the Sky Poison Pearl had recovered was still quite far away from Yun Che’s set goal of being able to “threaten a king realm”.

Even though the Sky Poison Pearl had a new Sky Poison Poison Spirit, the universe was no longer like it was in the past, when actual gods reigned over it. Furthermore, over the past few years, they had been in the lower realms, where the auras were most inferior and low-grade, so for the Sky Poison Pearl to recover its poison power to this extent was already the absolute limit of its recovery.

Yun Che closed his palm and the dark green light dispersed. Yun Che withdrew his gaze, his expression grave and serious, “We cannot afford to wait any longer, I need to return to the God Realm.”

“AH!?” He Ling let out a startled shout, “But w… why?”

“If the Blue Pole Star’s situation continues to worsen, it will be beyond my ability to control before too long,” Yun Che said. “It’s already like this before the true calamity has erupted. So if we wait until the day that the true calamity erupts, everything will already be too late.”

“But, what does this have to do with Master returning to the God Realm… Are you going to ask Master Shen Xi for help?” He Ling asked.

“No.” Yun Che’s eyes narrowed slightly as he said, “I am ninety-nine percent certain that all of this has something to do with the ‘crimson crack’. Moreover, a divine being once told me that only I could resolve the calamity that was hiding behind that crimson crack. This was also the reason that the Evil God did all he could to leave behind an inheritance, and this also has to do with the mission I inherited from the Evil God when I inherited the Evil God divine power.”

“I have had this heaven-bestowed divine power for so long, so maybe it’s about time for me to fulfill my ‘duty’.”

However, it naturally was not only because of his ‘duty’, even more than that, it was for the safety of the Blue Pole Star.

“Then… does Master know what to do?” He Ling said in a worried voice.

“I don’t,” Yun Che said with a shake of his head, “but she will tell me the answer. I think that she is definitely also very anxiously awaiting my return.”

The Ice Phoenix girl underneath the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake… She was not like the Phoenix Spirit or the Golden Crow Spirit, mere fragments of will that had been left behind. She was a true divine being that existed in the current era. So her words would naturally be above suspicion.

“But,” He Ling was still unable to set aside her worries, “Master has not been able to cultivate at all in the lower realm and your profound strength has not grown at all. It is still a very long way until the Sky Poison Pearl recovers its required poison power as well. So if Master chooses to return to the God Realm, not only will there be danger, it will also be hard to find any peace and security from then on.”

“Don’t worry.” Yun Che had been silent for the entire evening and a plan had already started forming in his mind, “Right now, the entire God Realm is convinced that I’m already dead. So when I return, I only need to disguise myself a little and no one will know that it’s me. What’s more, the person who will give me the answer resides in the Snow Song Realm and that is the safest place in the God Realm for me.”

“Then… what if Master does not obtain the “answer” that he wants to hear?”

“Then I will simply quietly sneak back here. In any case, even if I’m discovered by someone in the God Realm, at most I’ll simply go hide where Shen Xi is at again.”

“If worst comes to worst, even if I don’t gain anything when I go there and I end up discovering that everything I thought was simply my own delusions, then this will be a calamity that nobody can prevent. Then I will immediately return and I will gather all of the people by my side, leave the Blue Pole Star, and head towards some planet in the western side of the Primal Chaos.”

“...Then, when does Master intend to move?” He Ling asked weakly. Since Yun Che had already come to a decision and had even thought of various possibilities and escape plans, she knew that it would be useless no matter how much she worried or tried to advise him.

Yun Che thought of it for a while before saying, “Tomorrow!”