Against the Gods (Web Novel)

Black lightning...

No wounds...

A pregnancy which had lasted thirteen months!?

……

“Youngest Master? Youngest Master!”

Xiao Hong’s two consecutive cries caused Yun Che to raise his head, shaking him from his reverie. According to his knowledge of the profound way, black lightning was something that definitely should not exist. Furthermore, according to his medical knowledge, a thirteen month pregnancy was something that should not happen to humans either. Even if it did happen, the newborn child would definitely not be a normal child… But after Xiao Lingxi was born, she had always been healthy and Yun Che did not remember her falling sick even once while they were growing up.

“Ah, so Grandmother passed away because of this event,” Yun Che muttered softly to himself as suspicion and doubt flooded his heart. Given the present heights he had reached, there should not be anything that happened in the Profound Sky Continent that exceeded his knowledge. But if Xiao Hong’s tale was true, then his knowledge could account for neither the black-colored lightning nor the Xiao Lingxi who was born after a thirteen month pregnancy.

Just like how he was completely mystified by the fifty kilograms of Purple Veined Divine Crystal that was found in this place.

“Yes,” Xiao Hong said with a light sigh of lament. “However, the Master did not tell anyone about this matter. After all, Madam being struck by lightning out of the blue could be construed and distorted into her being struck by the wrath of the heavens. After that, Madam died and the Master announced that her melancholy had turned into illness and she had passed away from sadness. It is just that, he never came to the place ever again after that. This was also the reason he never allowed you or the young missus to go anywhere near this place.”

“...I understand,” Yun Che said with faint nod of his head. “Grandpa Hong, thank you for telling me all of these things.”

“Hoho,” Xiao Hong let out a dry chuckle. “Ever since the Master has come back, his complexion has become much better and his face has been glowing. This has caused me to feel great relief, so I think it is best that you don’t mention the things regarding Madam in front of the Master, lest you reopen old wounds.”

“Mn, I understand,” Yun Che replied.

Xiao Hong went east as he continued to search for those elusive orchids. Yun Che remained in the same spot for a very long time. The words that Xiao Hong said tumbled through his head but in the end, he still was not able to come up with an explanation for these events. Finally, he exhaled lightly before muttering to himself, “Whatever, it is something that happened more than twenty years ago, who knows what exactly happened at that time. Black-colored lightning… It is extremely likely that the light had played tricks on their eyes. A thirteen month pregnancy… the only possibility was that they had mistakenly thought that she was pregnant for the first three months.”

Yun Che gave himself that final explanation and did not think on this matter any further. After all, it was something that had happened over twenty years ago and the dead would remain buried regardless. Furthermore, Xiao Lingxi had grown up without any mishaps, so even if he continued to think about this strange affair which had happened in the past, not only would this event be nearly impossible to trace, the attempt would be completely meaningless as well.

Yun Che took out his Sound Transmission Jade while he was flying back to Floating Cloud City and found a Sound Transmission Imprint that had been recorded years ago.

“Hua Minghai, where are you now?”

After he had sent the sound transmission, it had only taken a few short breaths for the Sound Transmission Jade to buzz with the Hua Minghai’s swift reply. An incredibly emotional voice rang out through the Sound Transmission Jade, “Yun Che… Big Brother, is it really you? I… I’m not dreaming, am I?”

“Of course it’s me. Where are you right now?”

“I… I’m somewhere to the north of Divine Phoenix City, I’m no more than five kilometers from the city proper.” Hua Minghai’s voice was still filled with deep emotion.

“The northern region of Divine Phoenix City?” Yun Che’s eyes jumped as he immediately stopped in midair and sent an instant reply, “Stay right where you are, I am going to find you immediately… and I’m going to deliver a present to you in passing as well.”

After he put away his Sound Transmission Jade, Yun Che swiftly flew back to Floating Cloud City and took a certain someone off Luo Chi’s hands. After that, he boarded the Primordial Profound Ark to directly translate to the area which was around five kilometers away from the northern gate of the Divine Phoenix City.

Even though he had not seen Hua Minghai for a long time, his aura was still familiar to Yun Che. He locked onto Hua Minghai’s location the moment he appeared and rapidly descended from the sky, landing in front of him.

Hua Minghai still had not recovered from the wave of emotions that had washed over him when he received Yun Che’s sound transmission; his hand still tightly gripped around his Sound Transmission Jade. But after that, he saw Yun Che suddenly appear in front of him. His hands shook and he nearly dropped the Sound Transmission Jade that he was holding onto. After that, he spoke in an extremely emotional voice, “Big Brother Yun!! You… I… Ah… Ah! Xiaoya, come quickly! Hurry up and pay your respects to the man who saved us!”

Just like every other time Yun Che had met him, Hua Minghai was currently disguised and it was a double-layered disguise at that. An elegant and gentle-looking woman stood at his side. Her eyes shone with a bright and clear light and there was no trace of weakness coming from her body. After she heard Hua Minghai’s words, she hurriedly moved forward and she attempted to bow down in respect, “Ru Xiaoya greatly thanks Big Brother Yun Che for saving my life…”

“Cough…” Yun Che hurriedly raised a hand, a thread of profound energy shooting out and stopping the movements of the two people in front of him. After that, he spoke with a helpless expression on his face, “You rascal! All those years ago, you had a completely fearless attitude and swaggered about like you had the biggest cojones around, so why are you trying to act all coy and shy in front of me now?”

“Hahahaha,” a loud and carefree guffaw escaped from Hua Minghai’s mouth. “In front of other people, I am naturally unafraid. I even walked in and out of the Divine Phoenix Sect tens of times but Big Brother Yun is different. Right now you are the foremost person in the entire history of this continent, even the Four Sacred Grounds are under your feet… Phew, I truly never thought that the person that I met in Divine Phoenix City all those years ago would actually turn out to be such a big shot. Ah, my loss at that time was truly well-deserved.”

“How can it simply just be well-deserved? It could practically be considered the thing that is most worthy of showing off in your entire life,” the woman beside him said with a gentle smile.

“Heh heh but of cour…” Hua Minghai’s lips were just about to curve into a smile before they suddenly froze in place. Because he suddenly realized just who Yun Che was carrying around. Even though that face did not possess the slightest trace of its usual pomp and authority, even if that person... turned into ashes, Hua Minghai would still definitely recognize him.

“Ye… Xuan… GE!!” Hua Minghai’s expression turned sinister all of the sudden, an incredibly intense baleful energy radiating from his eyes. His hands clenched into tightly-balled fists and when he shouted out that name, even the woman standing behind him started to shake as her hands tightly clutched at Hua Minghai’s arm.

Yun Che flung out his arm and threw Ye Xuange at Hua Minghai’s feet before saying, “Ye Meixie is already dead and the Sun Moon Divine Envoys and all of the elders of Sun Moon Divine Hall have been buried. Only this Ye Xuange remains because you had said in the past that the person that you wanted to kill the most was Ye Xuange. His profound strength has been crippled, so if you want him to die or suffer a fate even worse than death, that’s up to you. Sun Moon Divine Hall will soon disappear from the Profound Sky Continent forever, so you don’t need to be worried about any future consequences.”

Yun Che had made an extra effort to save Ye Xuange specially for Hua Minghai. This was naturally not only due to the words that he had said at the time… He was someone who definitely was not willing to leave any favors unpaid, so he used this Ye Xuange as a present to return the favor Hua Minghai did for him all those years ago when he gave Yun Che the Extreme Mirage Lightning skill. After all, Extreme Mirage Lightning had been a great help to him over the intervening years and it had even saved his life many times.

“Big Brother Yun… I…” Hua Minghai raised his head, he was so overcome with emotion at this time that he did not know what to say. Ye Xuange, who had collapsed to the ground, strove to raise his head so that he could see Hua Minghai. He struggled on the ground while he spoke discontentedly, “You… Just who are you… what grievance does… this old man have with you?”

“What grievance?” Hua Minghai looked down his eyes turning incredibly dark and fierce, “Old villain Ye, do you still remember the name Hua Guhuan!?”

“Ah…” Ye Xuange’s face froze as he remembered that name in the next instant, “You… you… You’re the Ghost Mirage Sacred Hand, Hua Minghai!”

“That’s right, it is I!” Hua Minghai waved a hand over his face, removing the disguise he was wearing and revealing his true appearance, “For the sake of stealing the Extreme Mirage Lightning technique, your Sun Moon Divine Hall pursued my Thief God Clan for many generations. What’s more, my parents died miserably at your hands, you old villain… and now the Thief God Clan consists of only one person! Me! Hua Minghai! All those years ago, my wife was also struck by your cold poison and she nearly lost her life because of that… Even when I dream, I dream of tearing you into bits and pieces! And today, you have finally fallen into my hands!!”

As he yelled in fury, Hua Minghai suddenly sent a hand hurtling down, smashing his fist into Ye Xuange’s head. How could the crippled Ye Xuange endure such a blow? His eyes rolled into the back of his head as he instantly fainted dead away.

“What are you going to do with him?” Yun Che asked. Seeing the current Hua Minghai, it seemed like he had no intention of killing him right away.

Hua Minghai fiercely stomped on Ye Xuange’s leg in indissoluble rage before he quickly sucked in a small breath of air and said, “Just simply killing him is letting him off far too lightly. I am prepared to bring him back to my hometown and use his blood as a sacrifice to the departed souls of my father and mother.”

“Mn.” Yun Che nodded his head before producing an Overlord Pellet and stretching his hand out to Hua Minghai, “This is an Overlord Pellet. Once your profound strength reaches the peak of the Emperor Profound Realm, it will allow you to quickly break through the bottleneck and allow you to become an Overlord.”

Hua Minghai’s jaw dropped open. As the “Ghost Mirage Sacred Hand” who had touched countless rare and valuable treasures, how could he not know just how valuable a medicinal pill that allowed one to breakthrough the bottleneck of the Tyrant Profound Realm was? But he did not stretch out his hand to take it. Instead, he shook his head and said, “Big Brother Yun, you’ve allowed me to take my long-desired revenge and there’s no way I can repay you for that already. So how can I take such a valuable thing from you as well?”

“Don’t you worry, it is something that is very common to me, I still have more than a thousand of these pellets in my possession,” Yun Che said with a faint smile.

Hua Minghai still shook his head even after hearing Yun Che’s words. His arm wrapped around the woman at his side as his expression turned much more calm and serene, “I think it is still better to not waste such a valuable item on me. Because from today onwards, the name ‘Ghost Mirage Sacred Hand’ shouldn’t appear in the Profound Sky Continent ever again.”

“Oh?” Yun Che was rather stunned by that announcement, “Could it be that…”

Hua Minghai and the woman beside him looked at each other and smiled, “My grandparents and parents were killed one after the other and now our Thief God Clan only consists of one inheritor which is myself. So only our reputation remains, the reality of the situation is that we don’t even exist anymore. After all of the waves that have buffeted us over the years, I have already figured out exactly what I want. In order to gather the profound crystals I needed to sustain Xiaoya’s life, I stole and plundered them from all over the place. Now, it is finally time for me to repay my debts. Furthermore, the Extreme Mirage Lightning technique has gained its most incredible successor in its entire history, so I haven’t disgraced the honor and glory of my clan either.”

Yun Che kept the Overlord Pellet and smiled as he nodded his head, “That’s fine as well. Regaining something that you’ve lost will indeed allow people to clearly see many things that were hidden from them before. Even though you are the successor of the Thief God Clan, perhaps a peaceful and quiet life would be more suitable for you.”

“However, my Sound Transmission Imprint will not change. If Big Brother Yun ever gives me a command, I will definitely answer the call and I definitely won’t even hesitate or have misgivings over it,” Hua Minghai said, his words a solemn vow.

“It would be better if you devoted more attention to carrying on the line of your Thief God Clan.”

Yun Che said as he gave a great laugh. He waved a hand towards Hua Minghai before taking to the skies and flying far away.

“Big Brother Yun… I will never ever forget you!!” The shout that Hua Minghai had made with all of his might rang out into the air behind him.

Hua Minghai’s voice grew more and more distant as it was carried away by the wind. The corners of Yun Che’s mouth curled up as a sedate and happy smile appeared on his face. As the only successor of the Thief God Clan, he had chosen to give up the name he had always been proud of for the sake of the beloved wife he had “nearly lost.” Henceforth, he would retire into seclusion and live the peaceful life of a normal person. He would even continue to carry out covert acts of heroism to atone for the sins of his past crimes… Perhaps, compared to living a bustling and vigorous life and causing his name to shake the heavens, this was the most perfect way to live one’s life.

This was Hua Minghai’s decision… and there were indeed some things that Yun Che himself needed to make a decision on soon as well.

For example, after bringing Xuanyuan Wendao before Xiao Lie and allowing him to get his revenge, Yun Che could finally bring up the matter of himself and Xiao Lingxi to his Grandfather...