Against the Gods (Web Novel)

Yun Che’s brain had never been thrown into such confused chaos before.

Master had two personalities but they didn’t only belong to Mu Xuanyin alone? Rather each personality had belonged to a different person?

Chi Wuyao, the Devil Queen of the North, had been Master’s other personality...

How could such a thing happen? How could such a thing...

What an absurd fantasy, what a wild tale.

Even so, he actually did not doubt it at all.

Whether it was her cottony words or her bewitching attitude which tugged at his very soul, all of it matched that memory, that figure, which was carved into the deepest parts of his soul.

This had clearly and utterly moved his soul, so there was no way it could be faked or imitated.

Moreover, no one else besides him and his master knew about this. This was a secret they wouldn’t let anyone know!

But the woman in front of him… was clearly the Devil Queen of the North!

How could she be the one who had taken him as her disciple in the Snow Song Realm… The one who had hunted him down after he had run away after committing a mistake… The one who had abandoned her entire sect to help him with his cultivation before the Profound God Convention… The one who had protected him from any and all bullying… The one who was clearly cold and merciless most of the time, but had always indulged him every time he made a mistake… The master who threw away the Snow Song Realm and even her own life just to protect...

Wait a second!

He suddenly felt as if a dark light had violently pierced into his soul. His body went cold as his head jerked up to look at Chi Wuyao. He desperately suppressed the chaos in his heart as he said in a low voice, “You hijacked… her soul?”

Chi Wuyao shook her head gently, “I did think of doing that in the past. But for some odd reason, I gave up on that option in the end and I merely chose to ‘attach’ myself to her soul.”

Yun Che’s trembling eyes gradually grew focused as he spoke in a low voice, “As expected…. Just as expected… No, that’s not right! When did you infiltrate the Snow Song Realm!? What exactly did you do to her!?”

Yun Che’s reaction was completely within Chi Wuyao’s expectations. She let out a long and languid sigh as she replied slowly, “I will tell you everything. I will also reveal… all of myself to you.”

Yun Che: “...”

Black mist roiled as Chi Wuyao slowly walked toward Yun Che. She began speaking in that soft devilish voice of hers again, “Yun Qianying should have told you that I previously lured Qianye Fantian and Zhou Xuzi to the borders of the Northern Divine Region ten millennia ago and engaged in a fierce battle with them.”

“To the god emperors of the Eastern Divine Region, the Yama Emperor, and the Burning Moon God Emperor, the reason I tested my strength against the two strongest god emperors of the Eastern Divine Region was to show off my ambition after my coronation as emperor.”

“But in reality, and this is something that only I know, I had a very special goal to accomplish during that battle. I had planned to lure them into the Northern Divine Region and borrow the darkness energy within this place to secretly perform a successful soul infiltration.”

When Qianye Ying’er had first mentioned the Devil Queen to Yun Che, she had told him about what had happened ten thousand years ago. At that time, as she faced off against the two strongest god emperors of the Eastern Divine Region along with the strongest Guardian and Brahma God, Chi Wuyao had been soundly defeated and she had fled back into the Northern Divine Region.

Qianye Fantian, Qianye Wubei, Zhou Xuzi, and Honorable Tai Yu had ventured into the Northern Divine Region as they wanted to take advantage of Chi Wuyao’s defeat to bury her forever. But they had been lured in and assaulted by the devilish energy Chi Wuyao had gathered from thousands of kilometers around them. The dark energy had gnawed at their minds and souls, leaving behind a dark shadow in the hearts of the two strongest god emperors of the east, a shadow that refused to fade even after ten thousand years had passed.

Just like Chi Wuyao had said, Qianye Ying’er had told him that Chi Wuyao was clearly testing the Eastern Divine Region’s strength during that battle. At the same time, she had exposed her enormous ambition.

The ambition to break out of the Northern Divine Region was also precisely the reason why Qianye Ying’er had tried her best to get Yun Che to ally himself with the Devil Queen.

But right now, Chi Wuyao was telling him something else altogether.

“The Brahma Heaven God Emperor, the Eternal Heaven God Emperor, a Brahma God, and a Guardian… They were the most important existences in the Eastern Divine Region, so they definitely had access to the most important power and secrets of the Eastern Divine Region and even the other two divine regions.”

“If I could use my Devil Emperor divine soul to secretly attach my soul to one of these people, I could observe the true state of the three divine regions with my own two eyes and also discover many other important secrets.”

“But alas, I had underestimated the strength of the Brahma Monarch God Realm and the Eternal Heaven God Realm. Though I managed to lure them into the borders of the Northern Divine Region, I still couldn’t find the right opportunity. I tried to force it a few times, but all my attempts failed. I had no choice but to settle for the next best thing and grab someone who had entered the battle by accident.”

“It was a woman who was holding an ice sword in her hand. Icy cold frost energy radiated from her body and her eyes were so cold that it looked like they could freeze one’s soul. She had just entered the Divine Master Realm yet she had clearly underestimated the scope of this battle and her chosen opponent. She, who had forced her way into this battle, was easily subdued by me. After that, I took her to the Northern Divine Region with me.”

Yun Che’s brows violently twitched.

“I read her memories and discovered her name and background. She was Mu Xuanyin, the new realm king of the Snow Song Realm.”

Yun Che’s eyes trembled once more, but he forced himself to remain silent as he focused attentively on every word that rang in his ears.

“The Snow Song Realm was the closest star realm in the Eastern Divine Region to the Northern Divine Region so they would constantly encounter dark profound practitioners who had escaped the Northern Divine Region in despair. These are the people that the Eastern Divine Region call ‘devils’. As the leader of the Snow Song Realm, many people from the bloodline of their realm king died at the hands of Northern Divine Region profound practitioners. This includes their ancestor and many of her close relatives… As a result, she also harbored a deep hatred towards the Northern Divine Region.”

“...” Yun Che slowly tightened both his hands into fists. Mu Xuanyin had hated devils with a passion, this was something Yun Che was well-aware of. Her and Mu Bingyun’s father had been killed by a devil.

They were to eliminate all devils they met. This was the most important rule and creed within the Divine Ice Phoenix Sect.

Yet for him, a person who possessed darkness profound energy, a devil that everyone had wanted to kill, she had...

“She had sensed this vicious battle because it had taken place too near the Snow Song Realm. Once she noticed what was happening, she, someone who hated devils with all of her heart, did not hesitate to join the battle and her sword constantly sought my life.”

“After I captured her successfully, I originally wanted to steal her soul and transform her into my puppet. Given her status, even though she would not have any contact with the true core of the three divine regions, she was still the realm king of a middle star realm. She also had the cultivation of a Divine Master so she would make a most excellent spy and pawn.”

“However, just when I was about to steal her soul away, I discovered an extremely high level divine soul hidden in the depths of her own.”

“That divine soul wasn’t something that had just been simply merged together with Mu Xuanyin’s original soul. Rather, it had connected another will to her as well. If I did not possess the soul of a Devil Emperor, I wouldn’t have detected the existence of this will either.”

“...” Yun Che knew that it was the Ice Phoenix divine being’s divine soul that she was talking about.

So the Ice Phoenix divine being had already attached her will to her divine soul when she bestowed her powers to Mu Xuanyin ten thousand years ago. This would allow her to survey the outside world through Mu Xuanyin’s eyes.

But later on, she had also subtly interfered with Mu Xuanyin’s will for his sake.

However, the Ice Phoenix divine being was unaware that the divine soul she had imparted to Mu Xuanyin would save her life when she had been captured by Chi Wuyao.

“At that time, this independent will within the divine soul was still slumbering. If I forcefully seized her soul, the process would definitely rouse the slumbering will within it and it might very well trigger a counterattack that I would not be able to account for. Thus, I chose to attach my soul to hers in the end… I attached ten percent of my Devil Emperor soul to Mu Xuanyin’s soul.”

“...” Yun Che’s body swayed slightly.

The Ice Phoenix divine being had never mentioned the existence of the Devil Emperor’s soul to Yun Che. She had even voiced her doubts when Yun Che had asked her about Mu Xuanyin’s split personality… She had not been pretending back then. She had truly been unaware of Chi Wuyao’s existence within Mu Xuanyin for the last ten millennia.

Because the Nirvana Devil Soul that Chi Wuyao possessed was the only Devil Emperor soul in this universe. It existed on a much higher plane of power than the Ice Phoenix divine being.

Chi Wuyao had known about the existence of the Ice Phoenix Divine Soul, but the Ice Phoenix divine being had never been aware of Chi Wuyao’s existence.

As for Mu Xuanyin… she did not know that either of these entities existed within her body.

When he had found out that the Ice Phoenix divine being had interfered with Mu Xuanyin, he felt an uncontrollable wrath toward the Ice Phoenix divine being, an entity that he had always greatly respected… Because her actions had been far too cruel towards Mu Xuanyin.

But he had never imagined that her will had not belonged to her alone since that incident ten millennia ago.

Chi Wuyao did not need to continue recounting the past. Yun Che could already imagine what had happened next. She only needed to release Mu Xuanyin in a very natural manner. After that, Mu Xuanyin would return to the Snow Song Realm once she woke up, but she would be completely unaware of the fact that a passenger was riding shotgun in her soul—an incredibly terrifying Devil Emperor soul that she had no way of ever detecting.

This also meant that the master he had known from that day onward… from the very beginning had not purely been Snow Song Realm King Mu Xuanyin. The person he had come to know, respect, and love. The person who had walked into the deepest parts of his heart and soul. The person who had disappeared from his life forever. That person had not been Mu Xuanyin, it had been the combined personalities of Mu Xuanyin and Chi Wuyao.

Two personalities… Two personalities from two different people.

But…”

“Answer one question.” Yun Che finally managed to speak after much difficulty. “Just how much did you interfere with her mind?”

“Very little,” Chi Wuyao replied. “Just as shallow as you remember it to be. Even if it’s a Devil Emperor’s soul, attaching one soul’s to another person is ultimately exactly what it sounds like. I was unable to independently control her body. Nor was I able to change her decisions. The only advantage I had was that I never had to worry about being discovered by her.”

Yun Che, “...”

“I could see everything that she saw, hear everything that she heard, feel everything that she felt, and even listen in on her thoughts. She viewed my existence as a second personality that had formed in her mind. She rejected me at first but she eventually learned to accept me and in the end, she even started to enjoy having me around and she would even pass the reins over to me when she felt like it… So she could enjoy that sort of uninhibited and unbridled release.”

“However, I had merely attached myself to her soul at the end of the day. When it did not compromise her principles, she would listen to the decisions that I, her ‘other personality’, made. But when she made up her mind, no matter how hard I tried to interfere as her ‘second personality’, I wasn’t truly able to obstruct her from doing what she wanted.”

“Even though your master was not purely Mu Xuanyin, she was still the master of her own mind and body. In the end, her will and her personality were dominant.”

Chi Wuyao closed her eyes, and her cottony voice grew even softer. “During those ten millennia, I saw many things through Mu Xuanyin’s eyes. It forced me to come to terms with something. If it was based on my power alone, changing the fate of the Northern Divine Region would be nothing more than a foolish pipedream.”

“But when I was just about to remove the attached part of my devil soul from her own, you appeared. The Heretic God aura that rolled off you caught my attention the very first moment you stepped into the Divine Ice Phoenix Sect.”

“And so, I gave her a few gentle nudges and she (I) met you, she (I) took you as her disciple, she (I) became very curious about the Heretic God divine power and the Dragon God divine soul that you possessed, so her (my) interest in you… grew deeper and deeper. She (I) started falling into a dangerous abyss before she (I) even knew it.”

Yun Che, “...”

“During that time, I sensed the interference that came from the Ice Phoenix divine being and it was a command to ‘always treat you well’. She didn’t sense it and I did not stop it. In fact, I was powerless to stop it.”

“However, the interference that came from the Ice Phoenix divine being was actually not necessary in the first place.”

“This was especially true… after your shared experience in the Ancient God Burying Inferno Prison. Her heart and mental state underwent a colossal change. When she had been unable to track you down after you had run away, that was the most worried and confused she had been for the last ten millennia. I, myself, am deeply aware of why she became so confused.”

Her bewitching eyes, which had been closed, gently opened, and they glimmered like crystals which had been infused with starlight.

When she recounted Mu Xuanyin’s past with Yun Che, every time she said the word “she”, she was actually also saying the word “I”.

At that time, she had been thoroughly amused by the fact that Mu Xuanyin, the Snow Song Realm King who cultivated the Ice Phoenix God Investiture Canon which sealed away all emotion, would actually start to fall deeply and irrevocably in love with this young and profligate troublemaker. Someone who was even her direct disciple.

But, attaching one’s soul to another person was in reality a secret merger of two souls and even the feelings of the host would be shared to the soul attached to it.

So when she was laughing at Mu Xuanyin, she was completely unaware that while her own thoughts could influence Mu Xuanyin, Mu Xuanyin’s thoughts could also influence her own.

Everything that Mu Xuanyin had experienced with Yun Che also became something that she herself had experienced with him.

As Mu Xuanyin quietly fell in love with Yun Che, she was also experiencing the same thing… It did not matter that her true body and original soul were in the distant Northern Divine Region.

This was especially true for their shared experiences in the Ancient God Burying Inferno Prison and the Primordial Profound Ark...

When Yun Che had sullied Mu Xuanyin’s body, Mu Xuanyin’s consciousness had been muddled. And even though Chi Wuyao had attached her soul to Mu Xuanyin’s soul, she was not able to independently control her body so that she could rouse herself or resist Yun Che. However, her devil soul had remained completely awake during the entire process.

At that time, Mu Xuanyin’s body had been sullied while she was unconscious but Chi Wuyao’s soul had been sullied while she had been conscious of every single detail.