Against the Gods (Web Novel)

Chapter 1180 - The True Beginning

Nailed on the icy thorn high in the sky, Luo Changan loudly wailed in a hoarse voice. It was simply impossible for any frost energy to be comparable to what was cultivated through the Ice Phoenix God Investiture Canon. He felt as if ten million soul-drilling thorns had pierced through his entire body, causing him to suffer inscrutable pain.

But even if the pain his body was feeling were to increase by ten times, it would still not be possible for it be as unbearable as the feeling of humiliation in his heart. It wasn’t just his body that was nailed firmly in the sky, all the glory and dignity he had possessed in his life had suffered the same fate as well. This scene of everybody watching him in such a state had never even appeared in the worst of his nightmares. It would certainly become such a shame for him that he would never be able to get rid of it.

Under the effect of the absolutely fearsome power of the Ice Phoenix, he found it impossible to even move a finger. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t channel his profound strength and forcibly make himself pass out. Gradually, he could no longer sense the existence of his body, and only endless pain and humiliation was felt.

“Yun… Che!!” The Holy Eaves Realm King seemed like a volcano had erupted in his chest. Luo Changan might be quite a good-for-nothing, but he was still his son, the son of the Holy Eaves Realm King. How could he let him experience such humiliation!?

How could he let the Holy Eaves Realm experience such humiliation!?

Let alone Yun Che, who was from a middle star realm, not even one of the Four God Children of the Eastern Region would have dared to treat Luo Changan in such a manner.

Everyone from the Holy Eaves Realm had also stood up, dark looks on their faces. If this place wasn’t the Conferred God Stage but somewhere else in the Eastern Divine Region, they would have already taken action in rage, without a doubt. In the eastern seating area, every god emperor had a big frown too—Although Luo Changan had an arrogant and domineering nature, and had openly humiliated Yun Che several times in front of everybody earlier, they also hadn’t expected that not only would Yun Che have a complete victory over Luo Changan, but he would even return the insult to him countless times over, while everyone in the Eastern Divine Region watched their battle.

“Yun Che… I will… Aah…kill… you…”

Luo Changan shouted with all his might, but every word he shouted sounded more painful than the previous one. The last of his words almost contained a sense of despair.

The lungs of the Holy Eaves Realm King were on the verge of bursting with rage, but as he had been given a warning by Honorable Qu Hui, he could not let himself lose control at all. He forcefully inhaled, before saying in a loud voice, “Changan, a real man should know when to submit or stand tall, and victory and defeat are common happenings. Even if means that you’ll lose the battle, calm your mind and admit defeat. There is no need to force yourself to continue the fight.”

“No, no, no! The Holy Eaves Realm King is greatly mistaken!”

As soon as the Holy Eaves Realm King finished his words, Yun Che suddenly turned around and said in a clear loud voice, without giving Luo Changan the chance to reply, “In the eyes of ordinary people, victory and defeat are common happenings. If you’re no match for your opponent, it’s acceptable to admit defeat in that case too. But this is Great Young Master Luo Changan we’re talking about. In his eyes, admitting defeat or surrendering is the work of ‘lowly garbage,’ and such an action is akin to ‘a dog begging to surrender.’ A ‘real man’ can absolutely not do such a thing.”

“If he truly admitted defeat and surrendered, wouldn’t that mean that he recognizes himself as ‘lowly garbage’ and ‘a dog begging to surrender?’ That would not only be humiliating himself, but even the whole Holy Eaves Realm. As the son of the Holy Eaves Realm King, how could Luo Changan do such a thing?”

“You!”

“Oh right,” completely ignoring the great anger on the face of Holy Eaves Realm King, Yun Che continued. “It’s not like I am forcing Luo Changan to do so, as it was actually him who said those words earlier. Everyone sitting here, and all the people in the Eastern Divine Region who are watching the battle, must have very clearly heard him say that. I’m not exaggerating anything here!”

“Furthermore, when Luo Changan was giving that fine speech, the Holy Eaves Realm King didn’t say a word of rebuke to stop him, which clearly showed that he approved of his words. It is likely that… it should be a principle of the profound way that your Holy Eaves Realm has followed all this time, right? It makes me feel admiration from the bottom of my heart.”

Not only did he humiliate Luo Changan to such a great extent, he even forced him to a dead end with his words. Moreover, he even managed to ridicule the Holy Eaves Realm in passing. The Holy Eaves Realm King stared at Yun Che as he said in a low voice, “Little boy… You’ve got some big guts!”

“Hahahaha!” The moment Holy Eaves Realm King finished those words, he was interrupted by a wild laugh. At the eastern seating area, Cang Shitian was clapping as he laughed, without the slightest bearing of a god emperor, “A real man is one who takes his revenge at all costs! Yun boy, you did well. So pleasant!!”

There was no doubt that God Emperor Cang Shitian’s unbridled, wild laughter was a slap in the Holy Eaves Realm King’s face. His gaze turned gloomy once again, but he didn’t dare to look directly at the location of God Emperor Cang Shitian, nor did he return to his seat either. He said in an extremely low voice, “Honorable Qu Hui, my son Changan has already suffered defeat. This evil creature Yun Che is obviously humiliating him on purpose. Such a thing is not only an insult to my Holy Eaves Realm, but also the Conferred God Battle.”

“Hmph! Luo Changan was the one who humiliated the other party first. He can only blame himself for experiencing revenge in such a manner!” Honorable Qu Hui snorted, as he displayed complete indifference. Instead, he turned away and said in a heavy voice, “Luo Changan, the profound strength of your body has been fully sealed, and you no longer possess the power to struggle any further. This honored one wishes to judge this as your defeat, do you have any objections!?”

The Holy Eaves Realm King suddenly raised his head, as he said in an urgent voice, “Changan!”

Luo Changan was in extreme pain as he remained nailed in the sky. However, he had been forced to not surrender due to what Yun Che had said. He was in utter misery as he couldn’t choose what to do in such a situation. When he suddenly heard Honorable Qu Hui’s words, they sounded to him as if they came from a celestial being, and he mustered his all strength to roar, “Junior… has no objection!”

“Hmph!”

Honorable Qu Hui waved his arm. A light sound resounded as the ice thorn keeping Luo Changan nailed in the sky dissipated in an instant. Immediately, Luo Changan fell straight to the ground and laid prostrate on the ground like a dog that had drowned in water due to having broken limbs, as his entire body twitched over and over again.

He understood very clearly that his ugly display on this day had caused him the loss of his dignity and prestige in the eyes of countless profound practitioners of the Eastern Divine Region. As he had the prominent identities of both the son of the Holy Eaves Realm King and a Conferred God Candidate, news about his ugly performance would certainly spread like a plague. He would become a laughing stock for a very long period of time.

“First battle of the second round of the Losers Group, Yun Che has won, and will enter the third round of the Losers Group tomorrow! Luo Changan has lost, and will have to leave the Conferred God Battle!”

As Honorable Qu Hui announced the result, Luo Changan turned his head around with difficulty. He wanted to look in the direction of Yun Che, but he had barely turned his head halfway when he directly fainted because of severe injuries and the psychological stress from shame and anger.

Yun Che coldly looked at Luo Changan, and didn’t say anything. The Holy Eaves Realm was, after all, one of the most prestigious and strongest among the upper star realms. It was not possible for the Eternal Heaven Realm to truly remain indifferent after things had come so far. He was not surprised in the least by Honorable Qu Hui forcibly interfering in the battle.

The Holy Eaves Realm King stretched out his hand, as a suction force from his palm brought Luo Changan’s body to him. Afterwards, he speedily flew away along with him, and didn’t even spare Yun Che another glance.

However, Yun Che clearly sensed a wisp of cold light sweep over his body.

This was the first true battle of Yun Che on the Conferred God Battle stage, and even in the Profound God Convention so far… Three days ago, it had definitely been impossible for him to be Luo Changan’s opponent, but he had obtained a complete victory in the battle this day.

He had thoroughly defeated a profound practitioner at the sixth level of the Divine Spirit Realm with profound strength at the eighth level of the Divine Tribulation Realm, so it was easy to imagine the shock it gave to the people watching the battle. As he left the Conferred God Stage and returned to the audience seating area, almost all the gazes were still focused on him. The audience found it hard to shake off the feeling of shock for a long while.

Even the people from the Snow Song Realm were staring blankly at Yun Che. It was evident that they hadn’t come back to themselves yet either.

“Are you… truly… Yun Che?” Great Elder of Divine Ice Phoenix Sect, Mu Huanzhi looked straight at Yun Che. “Just how… did you…”

“Great Elder, it is because of a secret method that the sect prepared for Yun Che a long time ago. Apparently, it was very effective,” Mu Bingyun said in a light tone.

“So… that’s the case.” Mu Huanzhi and others slowly nodded their heads, but they also felt quite surprised in their hearts. Back then, Yun Che had continuously defeated Freezing Snow Hall disciples in the Divine Origin Realm with profound strength at the Sovereign Profound Realm, and it deeply surprised the elders of the sect upon coming to know of it. But they had never heard of anyone winning against an opponent in the middle stages of the Divine Spirit Realm while being in the late stages of the Divine Tribulation Realm.

It was absolutely not something any “secret method” could accomplish.

“Brother Yun… that was so great!” Huo Poyun said excitedly. As someone whose profound strength had also dramatically increased due to the execution of a “secret method,” he naturally wouldn’t do such a thing as curiously inquiring with Yun Che about the reason for the great amplification in his strength.

At his side, both Huo Rulie and Yan Juehai had their eyes opened wide. They looked at Yun Che as if they were seeing an absurd monster.

At a place very far away, a pair of starry eyes was watching the Conferred God Stage from high in the clouds. Their gaze had been following a person all along, from the instant he made Luo Changan kneel until he carefreely left the Conferred God Stage.

The day before, she had personally seen Yun Che leaving the Eternal Heaven Realm by himself and entering the profound formation to return to the Snow Song Realm… The moment his figure had disappeared, she had felt an enormous feeling of loss, as if most of her heart and soul had been hollowed out. But at the same time, her heart had also finally calmed down.

He went away… He finally went away…

I ask you… don’t ever come back…

But, he had actually returned after just one day.

He had such energy, as if he had been reborn, and even the look in his eyes had changed completely.

Her heart had grown so utterly disordered that she herself was unable to describe her feelings at this moment.

“Yun Che… Why have you come back…?” She absentmindedly said in a low tone. “Why are you… not willing to listen to my words again…?”

It was at this time that he her gaze shifted sideways all of a sudden. The blank and chaotic look in her eyes instantly turned terribly cold and bone-piercing. It was because she had sensed an extremely hateful aura that she would not stop to hate even if she were to die.

“Qian…ye… Ying…er!!”

Killing intent crazily surged from the depths of her mind and eyes, but was then firmly suppressed right away. She turned around as she moved towards the opposite direction without making any sound, and quickly disappeared into the horizon.

In another direction, Qianye Ying’er slowly took her eyes off Jasmine. There was a dried-up old person in gray clothes at her side.

“Miss, the Heavenly Slaughter Star God discovered you just now,” the dried-up old person said in a low voice. “But not only did she not attack Miss, she even took the initiative to go away to some distant place. Considering the nature of the Heavenly Slaughter Star God, it is really odd for her to do such a thing. However… it seems that Miss has a well-thought-out plan.”

“If not for that person, she would have certainly attacked me. But…” Qianye Ying’er’s lips rose into such an absolutely beautiful curve that any man of the Eastern Divine Region would have lost himself, upon catching sight of her face.

“Oh?”

“Uncle Gu, keep an eye on that person called Yun Che from now on. Besides him, you don’t need to be concerned about anyone or anything,” Qianye Ying’er said. “I want to dig out all the secrets he has!”

“The things he possesses might turn out to be even more interesting than the World-Defying Heaven Manual!”

………….

The Conferred God Battle of the second round of the Losers Group continued. In the second battle, on one side was an “acquaintance” of Yun Che—Wu Guike, and on the other… was Li Jianming who had perished together with Wei Hen!

Although Li Jianming was dead, his name was still left behind in the participants list of the Conferred God Battle. Therefore, technically speaking, Wu Guike didn’t get a free victory like Yun Che the day before, but the result was exactly the same—Wu Guike directly obtained victory, and entered the third round of the Losers Group that was to be held the next day.

After the successive unexciting battles, with Yun Che unexpectedly crushing and tormenting his opponent one-sidedly in the first battle, and then Wu Guike winning without a fight, the fights starting with the third battle became incomparably fierce. As there was no visible difference in the profound strength of the opponents, the quality and mastery of their profound energy, as well as the execution of their profound arts, became the key factors to victory.

The longest battle continued for over two hours before it was possible to determine the winner and loser.

It was nearing evening by the time the second round of the Losers Group came to an end. In the battles this day, a total of eight Conferred God Candidates were eliminated, and the remaining eight winners entered battle on the next day.

Of the thirty-two Conferred God Candidates, sixteen people had been eliminated thus far.

The match-up list for the battles the day after was also displayed on the screen of light at this time.

Conferred Gods Group’s Second Round Battles:

Battle 1: Flame God Realm 【Huo Poyun】（Seventh level of the Divine Spirit Realm）——VS—— Jasper Heart Sword Pavilion【Jun Xilei】（Tenth level of the Divine Spirit Realm）

Battle 2: Holy Eaves Realm 【Luo Changsheng】（Tenth level of the Divine Spirit Realm）——VS—— Shrouding Sky Realm【Lu Lengchuan】（Tenth level of the Divine Spirit Realm）

Battle 3: Glazed Light Realm 【Shui Meiyin】（First level of the Divine Spirit Realm）——VS—— Flying Star Realm【Meng Duanxi】（Ninth level of the Divine Spirit Realm）

Battle 4: Glazed Light Realm 【Shui Yingyue】（Tenth level of the Divine Spirit Realm）——VS—— Rising Sun Sacred Realm【Chao Feng】（Ninth level of the Divine Spirit Realm）