Against the Gods - Volume 07 - Heaven Smiting Shakes the World

by Mars Gravity

Yun Che gave it some thought before finally nodding his head and replying, “Alright then.”

  Absolute Monarch Sanctuary was the head of the Four Sacred Grounds. Being beside them would indeed be the safest place on the Profound Sky Continent.

  The Moon Slaughter Devil Nest was only fifty kilometers away from Supreme Ocean Palace, so the three of them reached Supreme Ocean Palace very quickly. After that, they were ushered into Venerable Cloud Palace where Absolute Monarch Sanctuary were being housed under Xia Yuanba’s instructions, arriving at the pavilion where Xia Yuanba was staying at.

  “Brother-in-law, I’ve already sent a sound transmission to my master. You can be at ease and focus on your recovery here, there definitely won’t be anyone who will disturb you.” Xia Yuanba said confidently.

  “…” Yun Che glanced outside the door of the pavilion and asked with furrowed brows, “What’s going on? Why is Supreme Ocean Palace so quiet? From the moment we returned here from the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest, I haven’t even spotted a single person. I did not even see the disciples who normally keep watch over Supreme Ocean Palace… Could it be due to the Devil Sword Conference that will begin once the morning comes?”

  “That’s right.” Xia Yuanba said as he nodded his head, “According to what Master said, something extraordinary will happen tomorrow. The Thirteen Star Alignment, a rare occurrence that happens every ten thousand years will appear. When the appointed hour arrives, the natural yin energy on this world will start flourishing to its peak, and that will also be the time when the seal of the ‘devil sword’ will be at its weakest. And this is exactly why they chose to hold the Devil Sword Conference tomorrow.”

  “Furthermore, the Devil Sword Conference has been labelled as the most important event to happen in the Profound Sky Continent for the past few thousand years, so everyone is ensuring that no mishaps happen. Due to this, no one is allowed to cause any disturbances in the twenty four hour period before the Devil Sword Conference begins. Furthermore, once it is twelve hours before the conference begins, everyone is required to stay within their own pavilions and no one is allowed to go out.

  “Ah, so that explains it.” Yun Che’s brows twitched as he muttered to himself.

  “So Brother-in-law can recuperate in peace here. Before the Devil Sword Conference begins, there definitely won’t be anyone who will come and disturb your rest. Actually, even if I did not send out that sound transmission, even if Master and the rest knew that you had returned, they may not come at this… extremely critical period of time to visit Brother-in-law.”

  “Big Brother Yun, did you obtain the item that you wanted to get? Why did you… sustain such serious injuries?” Feng Xue’er asked, her eyes filled with worry. As one of the few people who knew Yun Che best, she also knew that Yun Che’s body was far more abnormal than a normal person. So for him to sustain such serious injuries meant that he had met with uncommon danger within the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest.

  “I stayed behind in the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest in order to wait for the Netherworld Udumbara Flower to fully bloom first before plucking it. But I did not realize that there was another extremely terrifying thing besides the Netherworld Udumbara Flower that was hidden within the darkness…” After he said those words, Yun Che suddenly felt his chest grow dull and heavy. His face suddenly flushed red as a large amount of fresh blood sprayed from his mouth.

  “Big… Big Brother Yun!”

  “Brother-in-law!!”

  Feng Xue’er was so frightened that her pretty face lost all its color. Meanwhile, Xia Yuanba had also urgently rushed over, he was so shocked that he had nearly tripped over himself and fell to the floor. Yun Che hurriedly waved his hand as he tried to console them, “Don’t worry, it’s only some clogged up blood from my internal injuries. Now that I spat that out, I actually feel a lot better… Right now I just feel a bit weak and anemic. Once I rest for a while, I’ll be fine.”

  Feng Xue’er used the sleeve of her spotless snow white clothes to wipe away the blood that stained the corner of Yun Che’s mouth. She anxiously exclaimed in a watery voice, “Then you should get some rest first Big Brother Yun. Bulky Big Brother and I will keep watch over this place… Or how about we leave Supreme Ocean Palace right now and return to Frozen Cloud Asgard?”

  Xia Yuanba hurriedly said as well, “Then let me leave with the both of you as well. I’ll wait till Brother-in-law gets better before returning to Absolute Monarch Sanctuary.”

  “No.” Yun Che said as he shook his head, “Now is not the time for us to return. Since we are in Supreme Ocean Palace and the Devil Sword Conference will begin once day breaks, it would be a waste for us to miss it.”

  “Brother-in-law, you’re going to participate in the Devil Sword Conference? But your injuries…”

  “Don’t worry, I’m only going there to be an onlooker, I won’t be trying to break the seal on the devil sword. And I believe that with the state I am in right now, no one will be so dumb as to force me to participate either.” Yun Che said with a faint smile.

  Once he had heard about the true origins of the Heavenly Sin Divine Sword from the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign, the Devil Sword Conference, which he initially had little interest in, became an event that he could not afford to miss.

  Because the Heavenly Sin Divine Sword was a true devil sword! Furthermore, there was the devil soul of a true devil sealed inside of it… and it was the devil soul of the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign’s son at that!

  According to the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign’s words, the devil soul within should have have been scattered to the four winds long ago. But in the end, it was still an ancient devil sword, so even if there was no devil soul within, it was very likely that there were a few mysteries hidden within that blade… Furthermore, Mighty Heavenly Sword Region had spared no expense in arranging this event, so it was very likely that they made some sort of special discovery.

  Other than that, both he and Jasmine were extremely suspicious about one thing: Why did the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign say that the only way that he could save his son all those years ago was to seal his devil soul into his sword?

  Xia Yuanba thought about it for a while before nodding, “Fine then, I won’t be participating in the breaking of the seal on the devil sword tomorrow either. Even if there is really some heaven-shaking secret that is hidden inside, I can hardly be bothered with it.”

  Yun Che laughed as he replied, “Yuanba, you don’t need to be that considerate towards me. All of the people who are within Supreme Ocean Palace right now are totally focused on the Devil Sword Conference, so no one will have the time to come and find trouble with me.”

  Yun Che paused for a moment before speaking in an apologetic tone, “Yuanba, Xue’er, I have something very important that I need to do right away. Furthermore, I can only do it if I’m alone. So I’ll have to trouble the both of you to help me keep watch outside, and no matter what you hear, you must not come in… You mustn’t let anyone else in either.”

  Shock appeared on the faces of Xia Yuanba and Feng Xue’er but they did not ask Yun Che for any reasons or explanations.

  “Big Brother Yun, Xue’er will be right outside. I won’t take a step further away from you.” Feng Xue’er said in a soft and gentle voice before she left the room with Xia Yuanba to keep watch over Yun Che.

  The moment Xia Yuanba and Feng Xue’er left, Yun Che’s expression grew pained and he spoke in a helpless manner, “Jasmine, do you really need to start right away?”

  A petite and delicate figure dressed in red appeared in front of Yun Che, her long crimson hair beautiful and dazzling. She ignored Yun Che’s words and surveyed her surroundings before floating in the air. She then moved to the innermost part of the pavilion, settling in a corner of the room that was separated by a curtain. She said in a placid tone, “This spot will do. Bring over all the required items now.”

  “…” Yun Che was rendered speechless for a moment, but he still obediently did as he was told. In f
act, he could understand why Jasmine seemed so anxious and impatient. It had been seven years, an entire seven years, since she had no choice but to assume the form of a soul body. So she must definitely have been dreaming about the day she could reconstitute her body, reclaiming her life, power and freedom in one fell swoop.

  Now that all of the requirements had been met, she could barely wait even a breath longer.

  “Jasmine, this is still Supreme Ocean Palace after all…”

  “You don’t need to speak any further.” Jasmine said with a wave of her hand, a pout fixed on her tiny, milk-white face, “Anywhere would be fine to me. In a little while, I will set up an isolation barrier around this place and its strength will be tens of times stronger than the one that is set up around the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest! Even if it’s your ice flames, they would have no hope of breaking this barrier. A mere Profound Sky Continent does not have the qualifications to alarm or agitate one such as I.”

  “Alright then.” Yun Che could only nod his head as he quietly sucked in a cold breath of air: A barrier that was tens of times stronger than the one around the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest…

  Yun Che retrieved the two profound cores that came from Sovereign Profound Beasts and the thirty five kilograms of Purple Veined Divine Crystal… After he thought about it for a moment, he was afraid that this might not be enough, so he took out all the Purple Veined Divine Crystals that he had stored in the Sky Poison Pearl. Finally, he cautiously fished out the four Netherworld Udumbara Flower petals that were surrounded by a green light and he gently placed them behind the Purple Veined Divine Crystals.

  Nearly fifty kilograms of Purple Veined Divine Crystals were stacked together, releasing an incomparably dense and rich spirit energy. Jasmine made a quick gesture with her hand as an invisible energy completely trapped all of the spirit energy that was being released by the Purple Veined Divine Crystals, so as to prevent any outsiders from detecting it—She was naturally not worried that someone would make trouble for her, she was ensuring that she would not create any problems for Yun Che.

  “Are these items truly enough?” Yun Che casually asked.

  “In the end, I will also require three drops of your blood essence.” After Jasmine finished speaking, her dainty finger suddenly shot out and landed between Yun Che’s brows. Before Yun Che even had any time to react, three droplets of dark red blood had floated out from between his eyes as they hovered above Jasmine’s fingertip.

  These were no ordinary droplets of blood, these were droplets of his blood essence! A person’s vital energy and innate talent would be harmed if he even lost one drop of blood essence, much less three drops. The anemic and heavily injured Yun Che suddenly lost three drops of blood essence, so his vision immediately started to swim as he stumbled backwards in a faint, nearly falling over while he was at it.

  However, he had the Great Way of the Buddha so even lost blood essence could be regenerated. As a result, this loss of blood essence was far less serious than it would have been for a normal profound practitioner.

  “Don’t worry, after I reconstitute my body and slowly recover my vitality and strength, I will give you a drop of Star God’s Blood as compensation.” Jasmine said calmly.

  Yun Che shook his head as he grimaced, “I don’t need any compensation from you. Anyways… on the very first day we met, you already sucked out a lot of my blood. If it’s you, then even if you want all the blood in my body, I would be happy and willing to give it to you.”

  “Hmph!” Jasmine gave a cold and disdainful laugh, “Starting again with your insincere and flowery words again I see. I’ll say this once more, those moves that you pull to seduce women will only work on stupid women! Don’t ever think I’ll ever fall for one of your tricks!”

  Jasmine had uttered similar words countless times before and every time she had said those words, they contained a deep contempt and disdain. However this time around, even though it was as harsh and cutting as it usually was, her eyes had suddenly…

  “You may withdraw now because I’m about to begin. Remember, I can’t be interrupted during this period of time. The barrier that I will set up shortly will block out everything, including light and sound. So the only one who will be able to disturb me will be you. Before I come out of the barrier myself, even if something extremely important is happening, you must not send any sound transmissions to me.”

  “Also, I will still need to maintain the connection I have with your life before my body is fully reconstituted. So during this period of time, you must remember that you must definitely stay within a ten kilometer radius of me. If you have no choice but to exceed this distance, you must not exceed it for more than one hundred breaths! If not, it is possible that my soul will scatter.”

  Yun Che stored those words in his heart before solemnly speaking, “You don’t need to worry, I guarantee that nothing will happen… Oh right, Jasmine, I have something that I want to ask you.”

  Jasmine, “?”

  Yun Che gave Jasmine a measured glance before he started to speak with a strange look in his eyes, “Since you are reconstituting your body, then is it possible to change the appearance of your new body… Err, what I’m trying to ask is this. Will your appearance be exactly the same as before after you’ve obtained your new body?”

  Jasmine disdainfully turned her face away from him, “When the body and soul combines into one, the soul will form the main substance of a person while the body will merely be its container. So if your soul is destroyed but your flesh remains, it will be impossible to reform your soul. But if your soul survives while your flesh is destroyed, as long as the power of your soul is sufficiently strong, you will be able to reconstitute a new body. Furthermore, reconstituting a new body does not mean that you are borrowing a body to be reborn, it is birthed from the soul, so it will naturally be no different from the soul body of the person who is reconstituting her body!”

  “So the appearance that you see right now is exactly what my new body is going to look like! I couldn’t change it even if I wanted to!”

  “Ah, so that’s how it is!” Yun Che hurriedly nodded his head. A relieved look appeared on his face before he spoke sincerely, “Ah, that’s great to hear! Previously, I was worried that your appearance might change after your new body has been formed. I sure as heck don’t want my most perfect Jasmine to change in the slightest. Even if it’s the tiniest of changes, I might feel that it… wouldn’t be too good.”

  “…” A strange ripple passed through Jasmine’s eyes and for some unfathomable reason, she grew distracted for a moment. After that, she turned around and faced her back towards Yun Che. With a cold snort and a wave of her tiny hand, a curtain of light suddenly materialized in front of Yun Che, blocking his view of her completely.

  Yun Che unconsciously backpedaled and the moment he had come to a stop, a three meter wide square-shaped barrier had already materialized before his eyes. The barrier was a faint white color, it was simple and radiated no light and it did not give off any aura. It simply seemed to be a curtain that was erected in place.

  Yun Che did not utter a single word more. He slowly withdrew from the barrier, a complex look on his face as emotions started surging in his heart.

  For the past few years, Jasmine had been an inextricable part of his life. Even though he had not allowed himself to develop a habit of relying on Jasmine’s power, the time they had spent together was enough for her very presence to imperceptibly become a pillar that supported him.

  From the moment Jasmine reconstituted her body, she would no longer have to rely on his life to survive and she would no longer stay within the Sky Poison Pearl. So they would no longer be able to feel each other’s presence and the sound of each other’s hearts the way they used to before, when they were bonded so tightly that they could not separate themselves even if they wanted to.

  He had desperately tried to help Jasmine reconstitute her body and the moment he had obtained the Netherworld Udumbara Flower for he
r, his heart had been filled with a wild joy. But now that the moment they had been waiting for was at hand, he discovered that his heart was not filled with unrelenting joy. On the contrary, it was filled with a complex emotion that he found hard to put into words.

  “What are you thinking…” Yun Che muttered to himself as he gave a self-deprecating chuckle, “Meeting Jasmine was the most fortunate thing to ever happen to me. Without Jasmine, I wouldn’t be the person I am today… So how can I have such selfish thoughts.”

  Yun Che shook his head vigorously as he strove to clear his heart and mind of all distracting thoughts. He sat down and crossed his legs as he began to calm his heart and prepared to enter a state where he could focus on his recovery.

  At this moment, the back of his right hand shone with an icy-blue light before the image of the Frozen Cloud Celestial Soul slowly appeared in the air.

  Yun Che grew shocked… A sound transmission that came from Frozen Cloud Asgard?

  He swiftly closed his eyes and concentrated, comprehending the ice soul sound transmission that came from the Frozen Cloud Celestial Soul. In a flash, his eyes shot open and he shouted as he jerked to his feet, “Wha… What!!”

  Chapter 795: A Dangerous Situation

  Supreme Ocean Palace. Under the cover of night.

  “What did you say? Yun Che has returned?” This report caused the Sovereign of the Seas, Qu Fengyi, to react with incredulous shock.

  She had sensed that there was something weird going on with the barrier around the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest so she swiftly sent men to go investigate. But she never thought that she would receive such an amazingly shocking piece of news.

  “Yun Che came back with Absolute Monarch Sanctuary’s Xia Yuanba and the Divine Phoenix Sect’s Princess Snow. Right now, he is at Venerable Cloud Palace. Even though no one came out to greet him, many people observed his return. So this news will definitely spread quickly.”

  A green-robed elder of Supreme Ocean Palace reported all of this to the Sovereign of the Seas in a respectful tone.