Against the Gods - Volume 09 - Realm of the Gods

by Mars Gravity

  “Judging from the situation now, ignoring the Ice Phoenix’s bloodline, Hanyi’s innate talent is not below Feixue’s. Attaining such results with a male body is undoubtedly a thousand year rare find,” Mu Huanzhi muttered to himself with deep lament. From the situation at present, the two were evenly matched. However, he was very clear that after six hours, if the two were still evenly matched, it would undoubtedly be Mu Hanyi who would win… The first reason was due to the fact that he was male. The second reason was due to the high praise that everyone sang for him and the respect that he had earned.

  A cry of pain suddenly rang from below. At the edge on the heavenly lake, the body of an Ice Phoenix Palace disciple was twitching vigorously. His face was completely devoid of blood and he was starting to lose control of the cold energy that was entering his body and it was on the brink of going berserk.

  The palace master of the Ice Phoenix Palace he resided immediately opened her eyes and flew from the heavenly lake, grabbing him and throwing him to the bank of the heavenly lake. Color instantly returned to the Ice Phoenix disciple’s face and he got up in shame before silently sitting down at side of the lake.

  Each person’s profound strength, talent, physique, and ability to withstand the cold energy was different. Once a person’s limit was exceeded, they would have no choice but to leave. If one forcefully tried to re-enter the heavenly lake, they would injure himself instead. However, the cold energy at the side of the lake which was much “gentler” was still exceptionally valuable and no time should be wasted.

  As time passed, more and more disciples were starting to be unable to bear the heavenly lake’s cold energy. They could only leave the heavenly lake and come to the bank to calmly refine and maintain the benefits that they had reaped today.

  Furthermore, even the Ice Phoenix Palace disciple who stayed in the heavenly lake for the shortest amount of time, a mere two hours, could clearly feel as though he had been reborn.

  Refining the pure cold energy from the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake was far superior to even consuming thousands of elixirs.

  Gradually, four hours had passed. All three thousand five hundred disciples from Ice Phoenix Palace had been forced out of the heavenly lake and remained at the bank of the lake. Within the heavenly lake, only the various disciples from the divine hall still remained.

  Due to the tremendous lead that Mu Hanyi and Mu Feixue had, there were fewer and fewer disciples trying their best to attract ice spirits. From a few hundred to several dozen to the final few… When the final divine hall disciple opened his eyes, he saw that around both Mu Hanyi and Mu Feixue had twenty ice spirits dancing around them. When he looked up and only saw fourteen ice spirits surrounding him, he became disheartened and sighed lightly. Accepting his fate, he waved his hand, instantly dispersing all the ice spirits around him.

  There were no lack of geniuses in the world. However, there was an insufficient number of unparalleled geniuses. In front of these unparalleled geniuses, the other geniuses could only become the supporting cast.

  Two-thirds of the way into this battle of ice spirits, it had already completely turned into a battle between Mu Hanyi and Mu Feixue… This result however, was completely unsurprising.

  Yun Che did not know any of this. At this time, he was already in an extremely unique… or perhaps strange, world.

  The channeling of the Great Way of the Buddha caused the cold energy within the heavenly lake to enter Yun Che’s body through the pores of his body at a rate beyond human comprehension. The other disciples had used their profound energy to lead the cold energy to enter their bodies to refine their bodies and profound veins but Yun Che was directly guiding the energy into his profound veins. As more and more cold energy entered his body, the flow of profound energy within his body and profound veins became even faster. Yun Che’s consciousness completely sank as he focused on guiding the external cold energy to fuse with his own profoudn energy.

  Under such conditions, as his consciousness sank more and more, he could no longer feel the flow of time. Just like this, after an unknown amount of time had passed and the profound energy circulated up to a thousand cycles, it suddenly stopped. All the profound enegy completely stopped moving and it was so calm that it seemed as though time itself had suddenly stopped.

  Yun Che’s consciousness was suddenly stunned. Then, the profound energy surrounding him suddenly surged, like a raging stream that was returning ferociously into his profound veins. His consciousness also entered his profound veins but even before he could see if there were any anomalies, a loud noise echoed throughout every corner of his consciousness.

  At the core of his profound veins, it seemed as though something had exploded and the inner world of his profound veins became chaotic. Pale white mist filled it entirely and this mist moved about crazily, continuously dispersing and gathering. Occasionally, it flashed with a blue glow. Occasionally it surged with flames. Occasionally it flashed with purple lightning. Occasionally it was completely black.

  Just like a small world that had suddenly fallen apart due to a calamity…

  In the end, it completely fell apart and all the origin profound energy in his profound veins dispersed, rushing away…

  This shock was not trivial either. The dispersion of the origin profound energy… this meant that one’s cultivation thus far had gone down the drain. To any profound practitioner, this was undoubtedly a nightmarish scene. Despite his shock, Yun Che suddenly realized that speaks of strange starlight shone at the center of his profound veins that was swiftly becoming empty.

  It was like a nebula in the dark sky that was shining weakly, yet the speaks were exceptionally mysterious.

  An unusually mysterious feeling suddenly spread from within his body and consciousness. This feeling was peculiar and indescribable. It was a feeling as though… everything was being upgraded, like one’s entire body and soul were now in a world completely unlike before. As if they were enjoying the aura and hearing the voices of another world…

  Within his profound veins, the four colors, blue, red, purple and black lit up once again. The strange nebula at the center was also spinning slowly. With each round, it would grow larger and the glow of the stars would also become brighter. At the same time, the strange feeling within his body became even more intense. His veins, skeleton, blood, hair, and even every single cell throbbed with intensity… Even his consciousness was constantly capturing different images.

  These images began from when he was sixteen. They began from the day his profound veins were restructured, replaying every step he treated on the profound way…

  All the training, every breakthrough, every unusual encounter, every danger, every peril, every life and death situation…

  Within these images, it was as though he had walked through his entire life once again. Eight years… from the perspective of the profound way, eight years was but a very very short amount of time. However, all the life and death encounters he had experienced would probably exceed what others would experience within a thousand lives…

  At the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake, up in the sky above the enormous Frost Dragon, a strong gaze suddenly shot downwards from behind the mist and landed on Yun Che.

  At this time, Mu Bingyun also turned and looked at Yun Che in a flash… On him, countless profound streaks of profound energy were being released but did not disperse. Instead they turned into a ring shape and spun rapidly around him, causing the surrounding air to also turn chaotic.

  At the same time, his body began to tremble violently and ripples that seemed like water ripples appeared on his body.

  Yun Che and Mu Xiaolan were extremely close to one another and the intense change in aura caused Mu Xiaolan to jolt back to consciousness. She saw Yun Che’s condition and was about to say something when Mu Bingyun’s voice rang in the depths of her soul, “Don’t say anything… he’s about to break through!”

  Mu Xiaolan reached up with her hand and pressed strongly on her lips before retre
ating carefully. Her pupils expanded as she stared wide-eyed at Yun Che.

  Yun Che’s transformation instantly attracted the attention of all the Ice Phoenix Palace disciples on the side of the lake.

  This was no ordinary breakthrough.

  It was a profound practitioner’s advancement from the mortal realm into the divine realm!

  It was a true advancement and rebirth!

  Finally, for the first time, Yun Che who had arrived in the Snow Song Realm three months ago, under circumstances that he completely did not expect, was taking his first actual step into the divine way.

  Chapter 986: Finally Entering the Divine Way

  Why did it just have to be now…

  Mu Bingyun’s brows creased. If it were to be said that a small realm’s breakthrough was a quantitative change in profound strength and a great realm’s breakthrough was a qualitative change, then ascending to the divine realms from the mortal realms was a complete and thorough transformation that was entirely different from any other previous breakthrough. This process was also extremely long and difficult and usually took several days to finish. Even if one’s innate talent was extremely high, having it go smoothly would still require several hours.

  Furthermore, it would also be accompanied by considerably high risk. During the process, one must not be disturbed in anyway or else it would be easy to receive irreversible damage to one’s profound veins.

  As a result, when profound practitioners at the peak of the mortal way sensed that they were on the verge of breaking through, they would immediately choose to go into seclusion.

  Yet Yun Che’s breakthrough into the divine way came so suddenly.

  Upon stepping into the divine way, all profound energy in the entire body would go through a complete transformation. During this process, one’s profound energy would break from their control and they wouldn’t be able to channel or release it, which also meant that he was simply unable to handle the heavenly lake’s cold energy. The heavenly lake’s cold energy here had undoubtedly become his largest obstacle in his breakthrough now and it was most likely that it would heavily damage his body and profound veins in a short amount of time. This was why Yun Che suddenly breaking through here was extremely dangerous.

  Mu Bingyun no longer hesitated as she quickly took action, intending to release her cold energy to erect a barrier that sealed his surroundings. At the same time, her mind was quickly churning up ways of how to get him out of the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake without disturbing him.

  However, before her cold energy had yet to be released, she suddenly stopped… because the speed in which the profound energy that circled around him was reaching an incomprehensible level.

  Since it was a “transformation”, it naturally ought to be slow and difficult but the speed at which the profound energy around Yun Che’s body circulated was actually as fast as a tornado. Without the protection of profound energy, once the cold energy entered the body, one would shiver from the cold and be in intolerable pain. However, Yun Che’s complexion was actually as normal as ever with not a single twitch that indicated he was affected by the cold energy at all.

  Even though the circulation of profound energy was extremely fast, it was not disorderly at all.

  Mu Bingyun’s hand paused in place and didn’t move for a long while, amazement that didn’t scatter for a long period of time within her gaze. Behind her, Mu Xiaolan was filled with nervousness, not daring to utter a single sound or take too deep of a breath.

  Only Mu Bingyun, who was the closest to him, sensed Yun Che’s unusual condition. As for the others, whether it be the elders, palace masters or disciples, they quickly moved their gaze away from him after their initial shock. To Yun Che, this was a rebirth that would allow him to enter a whole new realm. But… to everyone else present, who had long been in the divine way, it wasn’t even strange at all… and some had even snorted disdainfully in secret.

  This was because to them, it was only a starting point they had long since passed through.

  The reason why Yun Che had attracted their gazes earlier was only because the timing of his breakthrough was a bit of a killjoy. On the other side was the intense battle that decided who was going to be the Realm King’s direct disciple, so who would bother to pay attention to a breakthrough into the starting point of the divine way?

  From Mu Bingyun’s appearance, she was obviously protecting him as well. With her personally protecting him, there shouldn’t be any problems even if he was breaking through here.

  In the world of Yun Che’s profound veins, the nebula slowly grew amidst its quick rotation and the twinkling stars within it also gradually became more concentrated. The four colored radiances brilliantly shone at the same frequency as the inner world within his profound veins underwent a world turning change. The senses within every corner of his body also changed as his perception of the world also distinctively changed.

  His consciousness continuously played the scenes in his head over and over again, as though it was bidding farewell to his past… declaring that he was now about to step into a whole new world in which he would possess a whole new life and power.

  The only thing that didn’t change was the devil origin orb in his profound veins… it was still dull gray and deathly silent.

  The Heavenly Netherfrost Lake was completely silent, with the only sound there being the dripping lakewater that pounded at one’s soul. Everyone’s attention concentrated on Mu Hanyi and Mu Feixue and as time elapsed, the contest between them was at an even greater stalemate. They attracted the same number of ice spirits and there was no disparity between them since the very beginning.

  Four hours had passed and both of them had attracted twenty four ice spirits… Thirty minutes later, at the same exact time, it had become twenty six… and then twenty seventy again fifteen minutes later.

  It was as though time had slowed down. Whether it was the Ice Phoenix Palace disciples at the edge of the lake or the divine hall disciples inside the lake, they all stared attentively with wide eyes and halted breaths, waiting to see the final result.

  If there was a slight gap between them, it would not make the atmosphere this stifling. However, not only was their ice spirit count identical since the start, their differences were next to nothing.

  “I never expected that these two would actually be this evenly matched in terms of ice laws. Six hours are about to pass and we still cannot tell for sure which is the stronger,” a divine hall elder lamented.

  “It is simply a great honor for two such outstanding disciples to appear at the same time within this generation,” stated another divine hall elder.

  And it was right at this moment that everyone’s gazes and expressions abruptly changed.

  This was because in the last fifteen minutes, both Mu Hanyi and Mu Feixue’s power and mind concentrated on the exact same ice spirit.

  The two also discovered this at the same time but neither shifted their attention… because this was the closest ice spirit. The fact that both of them were currently in a deadlock with barely any disparity meant it was almost certain they would lose if they chose another target at this critical juncture which would decide their fate.

  This situation made the previously incredibly tense atmosphere suddenly grow cold. This time, even the various elders and palace masters were holding their breaths.

  The time limit had now reached the last fifteen minutes of its deadline. Fifteen minutes was only enough for them to attract one ice spirit… which meant that since both of them had chosen this particular ice spirit, it would directly decide today’s outcome.

  This ice spirit’s consciousness was stirred by the two frost auras that attracted and beckoned it. After a short period of hesitation, it then flew toward the two people. The speed in which it flew was distinctly faster than the rate at which the other ice spirits flew. It was just that its trajectory wasn’t exactly a straight line as it drifted unstably, going left and right from time to time.

  Fin
ally, it stopped… right between Mu Hanyi and Mu Feixue. Then, it stayed in that spot for a long while… obviously at a loss about who to pick.

  Ding… Ding… Ding…

  The lakewater in the profound formation lessened as the sound of the end of this showdown was almost within reach. Everyone’s gaze firmly focused on the ice spirit between the two people. As though it had been fixed in place, despite the fact that the timer had reached its final countdown, it still wouldn’t move.

  “Go over to Hanyi!” Mu Yunzhi’s breathing also stopped with the halting of the ice spirit. Even though she had a high cultivation level, her face had gone red from holding her breath. The blue veins on her tightly fisted hands seemed to be on the verge of splitting apart.

  “Good luck, Feixue.” Mu Huanzhi’s forehead had long been matted in sweat. Even though he wasn’t as serious about the outcome as Mu Yunzhi, since he was able to calmly accept it if Mu Hanyi won, now that it had reached the last fifteen minutes of such an intense battle, he couldn’t help but tense up.

  Although Mu Feixue was naturally indifferent and rarely spoke, which Ice Phoenix disciple didn’t dream about being the Great Realm King’s direct disciple!

  Ding… Ding… Ding…

  The heavenly lake’s water still dropped methodically and the remaining lakewater inside the profound formation was finally down to the last one hundred drops.

  Ninety drops…

  Eighty drops…

  Seventy drops…

  ……

  Mu Hanyi and Mu Feixue’s eyes were firmly closed since the beginning yet icy mist rose from their bodies as they unreservedly released their lifetime’s insights about the ice laws… Before today, both originally possessed near identical, absolute confidence in themselves but they didn’t expect that their opponent was far more powerful than their expectations.

  Even though the two were publicly recognized to be at the top of this generation’s Ice Phoenix disciples, they normally reserved their power… until today, when they didn’t hold anything back.