Against the Gods (Web Novel)

After he returned to Floating Cloud City, Yun Che arrived at Xiao Lingxi’s courtyard.

Both the interior and exterior of the courtyard were exceptionally neat and tidy. The chair and table inside the room were completely spotless while a faint fragrance which Yun Che was all too familiar with suffused the air.

Xiao Lingxi was the person who was closest to him in both of his lives. From his childhood to his sixteenth year of age, they had not been separated for even a day. Furthermore, the person he owed the most to besides Chu Yuechan was Xiao Lingxi.

He had protected the royal family and Blue Wind Nation for Cang Yue, avenging her father and her country, causing Blue Wind Nation to rocket skyrocket to the top of the Profound Sky Continent. He had forgiven the Divine Phoenix Sect in the end for the sake of Feng Xue’er while helping them to completely escape the threat of destruction. He had also caused her Phoenix Soul to awaken quickly. He had helped the Little Demon Empress protect the Illusory Demon Realm and helped her complete the vengeance which had dominated her life...

Cang Yue was already his wife, Feng Xue’er was also engaged to him, and he had even married into the Little Demon Empress’ family...

In reality, the only person he had never done anything for was Xiao Lingxi. The only thing he had given her was an empty promise.

Moreover, Xiao Lingxi had never asked for anything from him before either. She had never even grumbled nor complained to him. Instead, she was forever quietly standing by his side, always watching over him, worrying over him, praying for him, and feeling afraid for his sake...

But now, all of the calamities had faded away and those existences which had once been far beyond his reach were now firmly under his feet. There was no longer anything which could threaten the people around him. The knot in Grandfather’s heart had finally been undone and he could finally fulfill the promise he made to Xiao Lingxi all those years ago.

Even though he had already made up his mind, Yun Che still felt nervousness and anxiety lingering in his heart… In the present Profound Sky Continent, there was basically no longer anything that could make him anxious. But before he had even brought this matter before Xiao Lie, he was already so nervous that his heart was thumping in his chest.

He currently felt even more apprehension than he did when he was about to face Xuanyuan Wentian.

Yun Che sat in front of that desk and he waited in Xiao Lingxi’s chamber for a long time but Xiao Lingxi still had not come back yet. As he waited for her, he took out the mysterious black jade that the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign had left behind and he started rolling it around in his hand.

Ever since he had obtained this mysterious black jade, Yun Che had often taken it out to try and research it. Because it was simply far too mysterious. It had endured the erosion of the Evil God’s million year seal along with the Moon Slaughter Devil but it had remained perfect and flawless. Its surface was so shiny and smooth that not even the tiniest scratch could be seen. Even though the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign’s devil body had been reduced to minced meat by the sword blow Yun Che had delivered with all of his might when he had opened the “Rumbling Heaven” gate and his remains had been burned to ashes by Golden Crow flames, the mysterious black jade remained completely undamaged.

Every type of energy that was infused into it instantly disappeared without a trace and even Jasmine and the Golden Crow Soul, whose memories stretched back into antiquity, could not puzzle out what exactly this black mysterious jade was.

The reason why he brought it out right now was because he had received a flash of inspiration while he was waiting for Xiao Lingxi— since this was something that had come from the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign and it was as black as the deep night. There was an eighty to ninety percent chance that it was some kind of ancient devil stone. If it had no reaction to his own power, Jasmine’s power or the Golden Crow’s power, perhaps it would react to darkness profound energy?

Yun Che laid the mysterious black jade on the table before briefly concentrating. Immediately, a ball of pitch-black light appeared above the palm of his hand. After that, he slowly approached the mysterious black jade as he pushed the cluster of black light towards it as he tried to insert the energy.

But, the result was exactly the same as when he had tried the first time. The darkness profound energy which entered the mysterious black jade instantly vanished without a trace, as if it had been swallowed up by an invisible black hole.

“...” Yun Che lapsed into a momentary silence. The black light in his hand immediately swelled but this time, he did not only use the energy found within his profound veins, he even used the primitive power of darkness that was contained within the devil origin orb. Both kinds of darkness profound energy combined and the space around him immediately turned exceptionally dark and gloomy. The air grew cold and the silent black light floating in the middle of Yun Che’s palms seemed to become the center of the whole universe. An extremely dense darkness energy exuded from that ball of black light as Yun Che carefully touched it towards the mysterious black jade.

Even though it was only a tiny ball of darkness profound energy, if the darkness profound energy within was completely released, it would be enough to swallow up the entire Floating Cloud City and turn it into a desolate wasteland.

However, the moment this kind of power came into contact with the mysterious black jade, it instantly and completely vanished just like all the previous times. The black jade did not even slow the slightest of movements, much less get damaged. The mental energy he had buried within the darkness profound energy disappeared as well and it was not able to sense anything.

“...” Yun Che was immediately at a loss for words. To think that even darkness profound energy would not provoke any response from it either, just what exactly was this piece of black jade supposed to be!?

In discontent, Yun Che brought out the Eternal Night Devil Sword that belonged to the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign. First, he tapped the body of the sword against the mysterious black jade but after that, he focused his profound energy and caused the sword to glow with black light before pushing it towards the black jade.

The ensuing result still did not elicit any joyous reaction from him… He had tried various means to infuse energy into this object but every single time he did, the energy had vanished without a trace.

Even if you threw a clay ox into the sea, it would still cause some ripples at the very least. But the energy that entered this mysterious black jade simply disappeared without a trace. In fact, not even a single sound was made as the energy disappeared.

“I am still not convinced!”

Yun Che grabbed the Eternal Night Devil Sword as he started to focus darkness profound energy in his hand once more… But at this time, he suddenly sensed Xiao Lingxi’s aura draw near. He swiftly put away the Eternal Night Devil Sword and withdrew his darkness profound energy. After that, he swept his hand around frantically, completely dispersing the darkness energy that lingered in the area so as to prevent it from harming Xiao Lingxi.

After he had done all of this, Xiao Lingxi’s figure appeared in the front of the room. The moment she saw Yun Che, her beautiful eyes lit up and she spoke with a joyful smile on her face, “Little Che, I heard from Father that you had returned. I looked all over for you and I even waited in your room for a good long whole. But to think that you had actually sneakily run over here.”

“I had a matter to attend to, so I left for a while.” Yun Che stood up and sucked in a small breath of air before he spoke in a determined voice, “Lingxi, let’s go. We’re going to see Grandfather together!”

“Ah?” Yun Che’s serious and solemn appearance caused a look of suspicion to appear on Xiao Lingxi’s face, “Didn’t you just go over to Grandfather’s place just now. So what happened this time? Eh? That stone in your hand is so beautiful, this is the first time I’ve ever seen such a fantastic and exotic light.”

The mysterious black jade still lay on the table as Yun Che had not withdrawn it in time.

Yun Che immediately said, “This stone was something I picked up from a certain place, I just haven’t been able to figure out exactly what it’s supposed to...”

Before Yun Che could finish his sentence, he abruptly stopped talking.

Lingxi just said that she saw… light?

He instinctively turned around and after his gaze abruptly jerked towards the object in question...

He saw that the mysterious black jade he had left on the table beside him was astonishingly glowing with light at this moment!

It was a strange and bizarre gray-colored light at that!!

Ever since he had picked up this piece of black jade, no matter what methods were used, even when it was on Jasmine’s level of power, they had been unable to elicit even the slightest response from it. But at this time, it was actually releasing light on its own without any stimulus whatsoever!

Furthermore it was a strange and bizarre light that he had never seen before in his life—a gray-colored light!?

The color of this light did not belong to any of the elemental energies that Yun Che knew about. It only existed as a thin layer that surrounded the black jade but it had completely covered up the deep black color of the black jade. What was even more strange was that this layer of gray light did not exude any aura at all… not even the slightest trace of it. It was right beside Yun Che but if not for Xiao Lingxi’s words, he would never have noticed its appearance.

One should be well aware of the fact that Yun Che’s current spiritual perception was so strong that even the the dimmest flickering of a firefly’s light would not be able to escape his notice if it happened within a three hundred and thirty meter radius around him.

So as he looked at this gray light, which had suddenly appeared out of the blue, Yun Che stood there in a shocked daze. For a moment, he had completely forgotten about the thing that he had just set his mind to do.

“Little Che?” After seeing Yun Che suddenly become quiet and unresponsive, Xiao Lingxi walked over with a suspicious look on her face. As she drew nearer, the gray light radiating from the mysterious black jade suddenly pulsed. After that, it started to grow brighter and denser with each passing moment…

By the time Xiao Lingxi had walked over to Yun Che’s side, the light emitted from the mysterious black jade had turned from a dull and thin gray to a glaring bright silver color.

“Ah? Its light can still continue to change?” As she saw that light change before her very eyes, Xiao Lingxi’s curiosity grew even further, “Little Che, just what exactly is this thing? Is it some kind of special profound crystal? This is the first time in my life I’ve ever seen something give off such a light.”

“...” Yun Che did not respond because all of his attention was entirely focused on the light that had turned from a dull gray to bright silver.

There were only two ways the light given off by any energy could escape his notice if it was near to him. The first was that the level of that power was too low. The second was that level of power was too high. But no matter how low that level of power was, even if it was as insignificant as the light given off by a firefly, it was still not able to give off nearly no aura at all at such a close distance.

If that was the case, could it be that the level of the laws encapsulated by this light were… so high that it had reached the level that my soul would not be able to comprehend it and my spiritual perception would not be able to sense it?

But if it was truly light given by an energy that was at an extremely high level, then why was I not able to feel anything when my finger came into contact with it?

Furthermore, this intense bright silver color… Why did it feel so familiar? It feels as if I had seen the exact same color not too long ago.

Now just where did I see it...

Yun Che focused his mind as he descended into a meditative trance and swiftly went over all of the memories he had of his recent escapades… As he did this, a nearly identical silver light abruptly flashed in the depths of his mind.

Beneath the Cloud’s End Cliff… The long hair of that girl with the multi-colored eyes!!

That was right! Her hair was this exact same bright silver color! At the bottom of that abyss of boundless darkness, her hair had shone with a near-blinding silver light… that was very similar to the silver light that was right in front of him.

The cogwheels in his head quickly turned… After all, that was only the color of that girl’s hair. Furthermore, she was also an illusory spirit body and even though the two colors were very similar, it was only the color that coincidentally matched. The color of a person’s hair and the color emitted by a piece of primordial black jade should not have any connection whatsoever.

“Little Che? Little Che!!” Xiao Lingxi called his name many times in a row and she even waved her small and lustrous white hands in front of his face, “Little Che? What’s wrong with you? Why did you suddenly go into a daze?”

Yun Che was pulled back into reality by Xiao Lingxi’s shouts and he hurriedly replied, “There’s nothing wrong. It’s just that this is also the first time I’ve ever seen this stone light up, so I was rather shocked.”

Just as those words left his mouth, his eyes, which were looking at Xiao Lingxi, suddenly jumped… Because he suddenly realised that the black jade, which had never given a single response in the past, had abruptly started to glow once Xiao Lingxi had appeared.

Moreover, it’s glow had slowly turned from a gray color into an intense and bright silver… and that had also been while Xiao Lingxi had gotten closer to it.

This was...

That isn’t right! This should simply be pure coincidence… How could Lingxi have any connection or elicit any reaction from something that had belonged to the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign?

Even though his heart was denying it, he was unable to dispel his suspicion. He hesitated for a moment before speaking, “Lingxi, can you… try something out for me? Move a few steps backwards.”

“Ah?” Xiao Lingxi’s lips opened slightly. Even though she failed to understand the reason behind this, she still retreated a few steps, “Like… this?”

As Xiao Lingxi retreated, the light emitted by the mysterious black jade started to weaken. Every step Xiao Lingxi retreated caused its light to weaken proportionally as well. After she had retreated four steps and stood in place, the light emitted by the black jade also immediately stabilized and stopped changing.

Yun Che, “...”