Against the Gods - Volume 08 - Cloud's End Mirage

by Mars Gravity

  “Big Brother Yun…” Feng Xue’er mumbled in a soft voice as she lowered her dainty head and hid her misty eyes.

  “Hahahahaha.” Feng Hengkong’s bundled and taut heartstrings relaxed once he heard those words and he could not help but give a great laugh, “Good! This is very good indeed! I, Feng Hengkong, have indeed not misjudged you.” After that he turned around and announced in a great voice, “My honored friends from the Sacred Grounds and the Seven Nations, my little girl Feng Xue’er and Yun Che have had mutual affection for each other for several years and a few months ago, we also made an agreement to betroth her to him. Today, my little girl will be twenty in nineteen days. So in nineteen days, my sect will be holding a grand engagement celebration banquet in Phoenix City, I hope all my noble and honored friends here will do me the honor of attending this event!”

  “~！#￥%… Fuck me, this cunning old fox!” Yun Che silently cursed in his heart. He was indeed befitting of the title of the biggest emperor among the Seven Nations, his skin was so thick that even the walls of the Divine Phoenix City paled in comparison.

  “Royal Father!” Feng Xue’er yelled in shame and anxiety but Feng Hengkong was already impatiently yelling out invitations, so she was helpless to do anything.

  If it were before today, the big powers of the Seven Nations would have responded to Feng Hengkong’s invitation, even if it was for a grand wedding, by sending a few important individuals to attend. But if even one elder from each of the Four Sacred Grounds attended, they would have been showing enough face—At most, the ones attending would be on the level of Ling Kun or Ji Qianrou.

  And that was for a grand wedding, not a mere engagement banquet.

  But this time, the circumstances were completely different.

  Because the person whom Princess Snow was getting engaged to was Yun Che!

  So without even mentioning the Seven Nations, even if it were the Four Great Sacred Grounds… They needed to do everything they could to curry favor with him before he grew strong enough, just for the sake of survival. Furthermore, this engagement banquet would be the perfect opportunity to do so. Even if that person was a fool, he would realize it even if he was thinking with his buttocks. So the Four Sacred Masters would definitely not miss out on a chance to personally attend and they would even bring many precious gifts while trembling in fear and trepidation.

  Unless they did not want to live anymore.

  It was just like when a small power came face to face with one of the Four Sacred Grounds.

  So just as expected, once Feng Hengkong had finished speaking, the Sea God Arena only lay silent for an instant before shouts of affirmation and flattery rang out from all sides:

  “I congratulate the Divine Phoenix Sect Master. When the time comes I will definitely come, definitely come…”

  “This old one will definitely attend with his entire family. Congratulations, congratulations…”

  “Princess Snow and Asgard Master Yun are simply a match made in heaven, so it should be an occasion that is celebrated by all. If we were to miss a grand event that would be the envy of the world, we would regret it our entire lives.”

  “The Divine Phoenix Sect Master has such an excellent daughter and now he has gotten such an excellent son-in-law, it is truly… truly something to be envied by all.”

  “I am unaware of what would suit the taste of your honored daughter and Asgard Master Yun so I hope that the Divine Phoenix Sect Master can advise me, so this little brother will be able to prepare…”

  In the blink of an eye, the gathered hegemons of the Profound Sky Continent had surrounded Feng Hengkong like stars surround the moon. Jasmine turned her head to glance at the commotion before giving a cold sniff and leaving in a huff.

  “Xue’er, Yuanba, let’s go.” Yun Che carried Xiao Yun as he hurriedly chased after Jasmine. This time Jasmine did not scold him in a fit of rage, so it could be said that she was giving him a lot of face right now.

  That was strange, she has already been long aware of my relationship with Xue’er. So why is she so mad all of the sudden?

  Could it be… No, it could not be that… she is jealous?

  …Theoretically, that should not be possible… right?

  Other than that, why did Jasmine want to stay in Supreme Ocean Palace for another day? If it was to nurse his wounds, would it not be better to return to Floating Cloud City or Frozen Cloud Asgard?

  Bang!

  Yun Che was lost in thought so he did not control his own speed and he ended up smacking headfirst into the back of Xia Yuanba who was in front of him.

  Xia Yuanba turned around and asked him with wide eyes, “Brother-in-law, what’s wrong?”

  “Oh… there is nothing wrong, nothing at all. I was just a little distracted. Xiao Yun should be waking up soon, so let’s hurry back to Venerable Cloud Palace.” Yun Che said as he waved a hand.

  At the same time, the heavy, cold and bloody aura that pervaded the Sea God Arena had finally faded away following Jasmine’s departure.

  Huangji Wuyu had been the only Sacred Master that had escaped Jasmine’s punishment. At this moment, every corner of his robe had been soaked in cold sweat. The fact that he had come out of this entire affair unscathed still made him feel like he had survived a great calamity. The shock and terror in his heart lingered for a long time but when his mind and heart had finally regained their calm. He realized that the main reason why he was safe and sound was because of Xia Yuanba.

  Other than that, Ancient Blue had also stepped forward to plead Yun Che’s case… and he was the only one among the Four Sacred Grounds besides Xia Yuanba who had spoken up for Yun Che at all.

  On the other side, Xuanyuan Wentian had already been supported by the members of Mighty Heavenly Sword Region. Xuanyuan Wendao’s face was still a ghastly white as he said in a pain-filled and teary voice, “Father, what are we going to do right now… What are we going to do…?”

  Only Xuanyuan Wentian’s left arm had been injured and even though it was bloody and mangled, the bones had not been broken. To someone on his level, this was not a serious wound at all and it would heal within half a month at most. But what was millions of times more dreadful than this wound was the feeling of humiliation and terror that settled over his heart like a devilish curse. His chest rose and fell violently before he rasped out in a hoarse voice, “Go… Let’s leave!”

  The Devil Sword Conference had been orchestrated by him and everything had been going perfectly according to his plan… But in the end, all of his plans had been completely wrecked because of Jasmine’s appearance.

  Mighty Heavenly Sword Region and Sun Moon Divine Hall left the Sea God Arena and they left with gloomy and disconsolate faces, not bothering to bid farewell to anyone. Absolute Monarch Sanctuary had not left yet… because Jasmine was staying at the Venerable Cloud Palace that they were also staying at. So they did not have the guts to immediately leave either. As for Supreme Ocean Palace, they remained frozen place as they trembled in fear.

  Because Jasmine was going to stay for one more day.

  Chapter 813: Returning to the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest

  Sky Sword Heavenly Palace, Mighty Heavenly Sword Region’s largest profound ark, was several kilometers long.

  At this moment, this ark was flying back to Mighty Heavenly Sword region at the fastest speed possible. It was only that the atmosphere in the profound ark was unprecedentedly heavy.

  “Sword Master, are your wounds okay?” A Mighty Heavenly Sword Region elder asked worriedly. The Three Sword Attendants were dead, twenty five elders had died as well—among those were seven elders ranked in the top ten positions. Today, he had gone from the fifth-ranked elder in Mighty Heavenly Sword Region to the top person after the Sword Master. This was truly a sorrowful tragedy.

  When they thought back on everything that had happened on Supreme Ocean Palace’s Sea God Arena, it still seemed like the most ridiculous and absurd nightmare.

  “My wounds are fine. Sh
e had never planned on killing me from the start, she did not even deal me a serious blow.” Xuanyuan Wentian’s left hand pressed down on his right arm, but when he said these words, he did not rejoice at all. Because the other party had done this so Yun Che could come and kill him in the future. It was equivalent to letting off a tool that still had some utility in the future.

  The word “she” caused all the remaining elders of Mighty Heavenly Sword Region to shudder violently. The terror and dread that had yet to subside once again reared its head like an awakened devil in the depths of their soul, causing them to feel cold all over.

  “Sword Master, that person… just who is she? In this world, how can such a terrifying person exist?” Xuanyuan Jue said in absolute shock and terror. Before the Devil Sword Conference, he had lashed out at Yun Che in fury due to the fact that he had known all of Yun Che’s “trump cards and secrets”, so he had desired to kill Yun Che in front of everybody. When he thought about his actions now, he realized that the fact that he was still alive was practically equivalent to picking up a free life.

  “I don’t know.” Xuanyuan Wentian said as he shook his head, his face the colour of dead ash. His expression did not contain the slightest bit of arrogance or intimidation that it usually had, “But she definitely… isn’t a person from this world!”

  “Not… a person from this world?”

  “That point isn’t important.” Xuanyuan Wentian looked at Xuanyuan Wendao with sunken brows, “Wendao, after she destroyed our Northern Region at the Sea God Arena, she did not pursue the question of who killed Xiao Ying in Floating Cloud City all those years ago… because she already knew that it was you, so she saw no need to ask further.”

  “Wh… wha… whaaat!?” Xuanyuan Wendao was immediately so shocked that all the color drained from his face.

  “Hmph!” Xuanyuan Wentian said through gritted teeth, “After she asked that question, you were so scared that you could not even maintain your balance. Given her terrifying level of power, how could that escape her notice!?”

  “The… then what do we do… what do we do…” Xuanyuan Wendao muttered, his whole body going limp in fright as his legs shivered uncontrollably.

  “Hmph!” Xuanyuan Wendao said with a dark expression, “Well, who is to blame for all of this!? We can only blame your stupidity, leniency and self-inflated arrogance! When Xiao Ying was being stubborn, you merely killed him and left it at that. However, you did not perform a soul search nor did you kill his entire family as well. If you had done so, there wouldn’t be today’s Yun Che and today’s calamity would not have happened either.”

  “I… I…” Xuanyuan Wendao was so shocked and terrified that he was tottering on the edge of collapse and he was unable to formulate any words.

  “Sword Master, we can’t pin all the blame for what happened all those years ago on the Young Master.” Xuanyuan Jue cautiously said, “Who would have thought that a small fry from that tiny Floating Cloud City would actually be Yun Qinghong’s sworn brother? Even if it were this old one, if I heard that he had come into contact with Yun Qinghong, I would not have seriously thought that I would get any useful information from him in the first place, much less wasting my energy to do a soul search or destroy his entire family. Moreover, Young Master is still young…”

  “Enough! You don’t need to make any excuses for him.” Xuanyuan Wentian’s brows were furrowed so deeply that they had practically knit together, “Wendao, after you have experienced today’s events, do you finally understand why your father has chased after power at any cost his entire life? In this world, only those who hold absolute power hold absolute authority. They can easily decide the fate of other people and our lives are held at their whim and fancy… It was because that person held absolute power, that is why even I, Xuanyuan Wentian, was only fit to be a dog that could be kicked around in front of her!”

  “Father, then what should we do now… what should we do… Could it be that we can only… wait for death…” Xuanyuan Wendao was completely out of his wits. As the Mighty Heavenly Sword Region’s young master, he had never known the meaning of the word “danger” until today. But now, he had suddenly felt that most dreadful shadow of death descend upon him.

  “Waiting for death? Why should we wait for death?” Fresh blood flowed freely from between Xuanyuan Wentian’s fingers as he spoke in a fierce tone, “Wendao, have you forgotten all the lessons I have imparted to you from your childhood till now!? You are my son, the son of Xuanyuan Wentian, you must continue living on! Forget your integrity and forget your pride! In the face of survival, all of those things are absolute dogshit! Even if your suffer the most abject humiliation, even if you sacrifice all of your dignity and honor, even if that means you have to be on your knees begging for your life, you must live on… Because it is only when you are still alive that possibilities will open up to you!”

  Xuanyuan Wendao was completely stunned by those words for a while before he spoke in a shaky voice, “Father, you mean…”

  Xuanyuan Wentian sucked in a deep breath before speaking, “Nineteen days from now, Princess Snow and Yun Che will be engaged… At that time, we, as father and son, must personally attend and prepare the biggest present we possibly find, along with all of our dignity… As for the matter of you killing Xiao Ying all those years ago, even if you have to discard all dignity and drop to your knees to beg… and even if you have to kowtow tens of thousand of times… Even if you have to let the people from the Xiao Family who want to take vengeance on you trample on you and abuse you like a defeated dog… As long as Yun Che doesn’t kill you, there is nothing you will not do! Nothing you will not endure!”

  “The strength of a man is not measured by how many resources he has at his disposal. It is measured by how much humiliation and indignity he is able to suffer! If you can do these things, then when the time comes, I, your father, will be able to immediately hand Mighty Heavenly Sword Region into your hands without a single worry in the world.

  Xuanyuan Wentian’s word caused Xuanyuan Wendao to tremble even more violently. He nodded with a blank expression on his face, “Father, I… I understand now…”

  “…Jiuding, dispatch some men to keep a constant look out for any movements made by Fen Juechen.”

  “Yes, Sword Master.” Xuanyuan Jiuding replied in a gloomy and dispirited voice.

  Supreme Ocean Palace.

  Once they had returned to the Venerable Cloud Palace, Yun Che gingerly placed Xiao Yun on the bed. After that, he placed his right palm over his forehead and he transferred the energy of heaven and earth that was gathered by the Great Way of the Buddha into Xiao Yun’s body at an extremely slow pace. Even though Xiao Yun’s soul had not been damaged, it had been greatly exhausted. If Yun Che did not aid his recovery, he would remain unconscious for a very long period of time. He wanted Xiao Yun to wake up sooner so he could bring him back to Floating Cloud City.

  Jasmine glanced at him before turning her face away and facing her back towards him. At the same time, she faced her back towards the extremely nervous Xia Yuanba and Feng Xue’er who had both just entered the room.

  Xia Yuanba’s hand kept tensing up and he opened his mouth several times before closing it again as he simply did not know how to address Jasmine. After being tormented by doubt for a good period of time, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration… Even though Yun Che had said that she was even younger than he was, in the end, she was still Yun Che’s master. So that naturally meant that she was Yun Che’s senior, no matter what age she was. And if she was Yun Che’s senior, that also meant that she was his senior.

  Xia Yuanba resolved himself immediately and opened his mouth to speak, but his voice was still fraught with nervousness, “Sen… Senior, Junior Xia…”

  “Both of you get out!” Jasmine did not even turn her head to look at them as she issued a command in that icy voice of hers.

  “…” Xia Yuanba and Feng Xue’er instantly froze in place as they shot miserable and pitiful looks at Yun
Che that begged him for help.

  “Xue’er, you should return to your royal father’s abode first. He must definitely have a lot of things to say to you. Yuanba, go and say thank you to Senior Ancient Blue on my behalf… Cough, my master is not really used to seeing people other than me. Furthermore, it is very likely she has some very special things to discuss with me right now.” Yun Che said as he felt a headache coming on. Even though Jasmine’s personality had been subtly changing over the last few years, the one thing that remained absolutely the same was her haughtiness. There was nothing in the Profound Sky Continent that was worthy of entering her vision… Forget about people, she had even spoken to the Dragon God Spirit and the Golden Crow Spirit in a clearly disdainful manner.

  “Ah… alright, alright.” Xia Yuanba nodded his head vigorously in panic, “Little Sister Xue’er, let’s be off then.”

  “Mnnn…” Feng Xue’er obediently responded… She had long ago been severely frightened by Jasmine’s aura and vicious ways when they were still at the Sea God Arena. She had been so afraid that her beautiful face constantly blanched in terror at Jasmine’s deeds.

  Xia Yuanba and Feng Xue’er left with anxiety and nervousness filling their hearts. Yun Che spoke to Jasmine with a forlorn and reproachful expression on his face, “Jasmine, can’t you be just a little bit gentler? If it’s just Yuanba, that would be fine. But what if you scare my Xue’er silly?”

  “Hmph, what do their lives or deaths have to do with me?” Jasmine said disdainfully.

  Yun Che shrugged his shoulders before looking Jasmine up and down. His eyes lit up as he said, “Jasmine, your reconstituted body is really exactly the same as your old one, there are practically no changes at all. Yes… that’s right, why don’t you let me touch your body to check if it feels the same as before?”

  “Get lost!” Jasmine slapped Yun Che’s arm away before nervously retreating two steps. After that her delicate eyebrows arched and her expression became as wooden as plank, “Because of your lifeline’s abnormality, the perfection of my new body does indeed exceed my expectations and it will also last far longer than I had initially predicted. There won’t be a problem for at least another thirty years. As long as we are able to find a perfect Netherworld Udumbara Flower in the next thirty years, then there won’t be any issues after that.”