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

by Mars Gravity

  After all, she basically did nothing else but sleep and eat. Even when she was summoned out, she was normally sound asleep inside the sword and even if he battled for an entire hour, there was no guarantee that she would actually wake up.

  “Uuuu…” Hong’er had been woken up by that gentle smack on her butt. She opened her eyes and said in a sleepy and silly voice, “Master, I was just having a very tasty dream, where did you suddenly wake me up.”

  Very… tasty… dream!?

  “…Hong’er, did your Big Sister Jasmine leave you anything to pass to me? She would have passed it to you just as she was just about to leave,” Yun Che asked as he carried her small body.

  “Hmm?” Hong’er blinked her sleep-crusted eyes as her small hand tugged at her vermillion hair. But all of the sudden, she said with an aggrieved pout on her face, “I don’t know. I’m very hungry right now, so I can’t think of anything.”

  “~！@#￥%…” Yun Che extended a hand and grabbed two sparkling and translucent long swords which released the aura of the Emperor Profound Realm, “There you go, eat up.”

  “Waaa! Thanks Master!!”

  Hong’er’s sleepiness had faded away completely as her eyes started to sparkle. She grabbed both Emperor Profound Swords and opened her mouth wide. Following an explosive cracking sound, a bite-shaped gap appeared on the sword which was even tougher and more durable than profound steel.

  Even though he had long ago gotten accustomed to the “terror” that was Hong’er’s teeth every time he saw her in action, it still sent chills down his spine.

  As Hong’er ravenously wolfed down her meal, those two Emperor Profound swords had been devoured completely in the blink of an eye, not even a fragment remained. She patted her tiny, unchanged tummy in contentment before she suddenly squealed excitedly, “I remember now! Big Sister Jasmine wanted me to give Master this!”

  Hong’er raised her tiny hand and a dot of glittering white light shone in it.

  Yun Che’s lips faintly moved before he extended a hand and gently took hold of that white light.

  Immediately, Jasmine’s voice rang out from that bright light as it resounded in the depths of his heart.

  “Yun Che, on the day that I reconstituted my body, I borrowed three drops of blood essence from you. As a recompense, I promised that I would give you one drop of Star God Blood in return. Right now, I am fulfilling that promise and giving that drop of Star God Blood to you.”

  “The power of the Star Gods can only be refined by using an extremely special method. Given your current ability, you won’t be able to refine any divine power from it but it will grant you many times the lifespan that you lost when you gave away those three drops of blood essence.”

  “If I am no longer able to remain at your side, then this drop of Star God Blood will be my final gift to you.”

  “…”

  Yun Che dazedly stared at the white light in his hand… Star God Blood, that was the blood essence that came from Jasmine…

  While his consciousness was still hazy, the Star God Blood that was encircled by white light suddenly flew up from the palm of his hand and directly shot towards the space between his eyebrows. After that, it forcefully entered his head and melted into his body.

  Yun Che’s consciousness instantly left the world of the Sky Poison Pearl. During the same instant, a bizarre sensation that felt both warm and cold at the same time swiftly spread from the space between his brows to the rest of his body. He hurriedly sat up straight, focusing his mind as he began to absorb the Star God Blood.

  After the brief period of discomfort had passed, the Star God Blood had gradually completely merged with his body. His five senses had begun to grow sharper as his entire body swelled with surging vitality. He could faintly sense that his body had grown stronger in a way but apart from this, his profound strength had barely changed.

  Just as Jasmine’s voice had said, it had greatly increased Yun Che’s lifespan but it barely had any effect on his profound strength,

  After the Star God Blood had completely merged with his body, Yun Che opened his eyes. A profound warmth was now swelling within both his heart and his body. He raised his head, looking into the distance as he softly muttered to himself, “Jasmine, did you truly leave behind this drop of Star God Blood just for the sake of paying me back…”

  As he spoke, the corners of his mouth faintly curled up into a small smile.

  Azure Cloud Continent, Supwake Country’s Rivereast Region, below Grandwake Mountain.

  A large bamboo forest extended from the foot of Grandwake Mountain to the distant northern gate of the Grandwake Clan. The bamboo forest was lush and dense and if someone viewed it from a distance, a dense emerald green expanse would fill his vision.

  Normally, an extremely refreshing cool breeze would gently blow among the swaying bamboo leaves in this place, relaxing and gladdening the hearts of the people who came here. It was as if even their spirits were being gently cleansed.

  But today, the breeze that blew in this bamboo forest carried the acrid odor of fresh blood

  Snap!!!

  Following a vicious flash of a knife’s edge, blood spurted onto the arrow and a tall and mighty figure heavily tumbled to the ground. A mountain of corpses lay littered around the area where he fell.

  “Old Seven!!”

  Su Hengshan rushed forward and grabbed the man’s body, blood tears filling his widened eyes. The last among those that had stayed loyal to him had fallen. The ground underneath his feet and the surrounding bamboo leaves had all been dyed red with fresh blood as bodies filled his vision. Furthermore, these corpses belonged to the people who had used their lives to protect him, the people who had upheld the final dignity of the Grandwake Clan…

  Right now, other than himself, all of them had fallen.

  “Clan Master… Hurry up… and leave…” The tall man mumbled in agony before he closed his eyes and completely expired, the last bit of life leaving his body.

  “Old Seven!!!!” Su Hengshan gave howl that tore at one’s heart, his entire body shaking fiercely due to pain and resentment.

  “Hehehe, my beloved father, you have truly disappointed me.”

  A formidable array of people had completely surrounded Su Hengshan. Some of them wore the attire of the Grandwake Clan while others were all dressed in black—it was astonishingly the attire of Black Wood Stronghold. Moreover, the one who stood at the very forefront of this contingent was Su Hengshan’s only son—Su Haoran.

  “You were the one who promised as that as long as we allowed Ling’er to run far away, you would behave yourself and hand over the treasure key to us quietly. But in the end, you reneged on your word and obstinately struggled against us, heedless of the consequences, causing so many people to die in vain… Tsk tsk, in any case, you are a senior from the same clan, so this is truly intolerable.”

  As the one who controlled the current proceedings, Su Haoran wore a bland and arrogant smile on his face. Yet there was also a trace of unwillingness on his face.

  Third Elder Su Hengyue and Grand Elder Su Wangji were both present along with the Black Wood Stronghold’s Heimu Qingya. They all wore cold smiles on their faces yet they were standing… behind Su Haoran.

  Arrayed behind them were people from Black Wood Cliff and… a whole eighty percent of the disciples from the Grandwake Clan!

  Only a pitiful twenty percent of the Grandwake Clan’s disciples had chosen to follow Su Hengshan… and right now, all of them lay dead on the ground.

  “You… You beast!!!” Su Hengshan shouted as he turned around and pointed a trembling finger at Su Haoran. His bloodshot eyes were filled with boundless grief and sorrow.

  “All these years, I… have remained constantly vigilant against Su Hengyue and Black Wood Stronghold… But I never would have thought… it would be a beast like you… Cough, cough cough…” Su Hengshan’s body swayed as he coughed out a large mouthful of fresh blood.

  “Heh heh,” Su Hengyue said
with a cold laugh. “Haoran is someone who is far stronger than a stubborn and conservative piece of trash such as yourself. After hopping on board the giant ship that is the Seven Star Divine Palace, our Grandwake Clan will instantly become ascendant, rising into the sky like a blazing sun and no one in the Country of Supwake will dare to bully us. Furthermore, if Haoran is accepted as a disciple of the Seven Star Divine Palace, tsk, it won’t merely be so simple as bringing glory to our ancestors.”

  “Heh heh heh.” Heimu Qingya shot Su Hengshan a look that was filled with mingled joy and pity. After that, he bowed his head to Su Haoran before speaking, “Young Sect Master, when you enter the Seven Star Divine Palace in the future, I hope that you will generously support us.”

  “Hahahaha,” Su Haoran gave a loud and arrogant laugh. He was thoroughly pleased with himself, “That’s natural. If not for the Black Wood Hold Master, how would this young master even have the chance to obtain the favor of the Seven Star Divine Palace.”

  “Su Hengshan,” Su Haoran said, directly addressing Su Hengshan by his name. “All of the stubborn and ignorant people have already died, so to save yourself from even more pain, it would be better for you to cooperate with us as soon as possible and obediently hand over the treasure key. After all, the act of torturing my own father is something that will cause me to die young.”

  “You evil creature, you bunch of animals… Even if I die, all of you can forget about ever obtaining the treasure key!!” Su Hengshan fiercely spat. He tightly gripped the blood-drenched sword in his hand as a startling malevolent aura radiated from every pore of his body, “There will come a day… where all of you will suffer retribution!!”

  “Retribution?” Su Haoran said as his eyes narrowed. After that, he began to laugh wildly, “Hahahahaha, could it be that this retribution that you are referring to is that man Yun Che? Tsk tsk, ah, it is truly woeful that you have yet to wake up to reality despite six years of dreaming. Now that I mention it, I had even specifically asked the people of Seven Star Divine Palace about Yun Che and Xia Qingyue but in the end, no one at that level even knew those two names. That is also to say that even the names that they gave you all those years ago were fake but to think you’re actually still dreaming that he will truly come back and marry Ling’er… Aiyah, it has truly been hard on my pitiful sister who has been stupidly waiting for six years now.”

  “The Divine Palace Envoy has arrived.”

  At this moment, a low and deep shout rang out from behind. Those short six words caused the expressions of every single person present to dramatically change. At the same time, a figure appeared like a ghost at Su Haoran’s side. His face was cold and stern and dressed in black clothes. A mark that looked like seven stars intertwining was embroidered on his breast.

  Upon seeing this person, everyone felt as if a true god had descended from the heavens as they panickedly knelt down and said, “We greet the Divine Palace Envoy.”

  “Hn.” A noise limply came from the Divine Palace Envoy’s nose and that counted as his acknowledgement.

  “Divine Palace Envoy, Haoran was not aware that you would abruptly honor us with your presence. Excuse me for not going out to meet you, I beg for your forgiveness.” Facing this black-clothed man, Su Haoran’s previous brash insolence had completely disappeared. What replaced it was an expression filled with fear and unease.

  “Hmph,” the Divine Palace Envoy gave a cold snort as his gaze swept across Su Hengshan, “He is that Su Hengshan?”

  “Yes, yes, yes. As expected, the Divine Palace Envoy truly has keen-sighted eyes,” Su Haoran said as he swiftly attempted to curry favor with the Divine Palace Envoy.

  “Heh, you are even able to so vicious towards your real father, you are truly someone who can achieve great things in life.” The Divine Palace Envoy gave a lukewarm chuckle and no one was able to tell whether it was mockery or praise.

  “I tha.. I thank the Divine Palace Envoy for his praise. To be able to serve the Divine Palace is the greatest fortune that Haoran will ever encounter in his life,” Su Haoran said in a careful tone. Behind him, Su Hengyue, Mu Qingya and the rest of them had all deeply bowed their heads, they did not even dare to breathe too loudly.

  “And the item?” The Divine Palace Envoy asked coldly.

  “Eh…” Su Haoran started to panic on the inside as he spoke while his forehead was matted in cold sweat, “We have search the entire Grandwake Clan but we were not able to find it. The only person who would know the whereabouts of the treasure key… is him.”

  “Hmph!” The Divine Palace Envoy’s eyes went cold, “You have already captured the person in front of you. Yet you were unable to force him to surrender that object despite your numbers. All of you are truly a bunch of trash.”

  Su Haoran fiercely gulped before he hurriedly spoke, “He… he had originally promised to give us the treasure key as long as we allowed his daughter to escape. But we never expected him to suddenly go back on his word. However, I want to assure the Divine Palace Envoy of one thing. Now that he has fallen into our hands, forcing the treasure key out of him will only be a matter of time.”

  “His daughter?” The Divine Palace Envoy said with narrowed eyes, “Since he cares so much about his daughter, then go and capture his daughter and see whether he will still continue to be so stubborn at that time.”

  Su Haoran’s eyes gleamed and immediately echoed what he had heard, “The Divine Palace Envoy is truly wise! Haoran will immediately dispatch people to capture Su Ling’er…”

  When the heavily wounded Su Hengshan heard those words, he immediately howled in fury like a despairing and enrage wolf, “You bunch of wretched animals… If you dare to harm Ling’er… I won’t let you off even after I die!!”

  “Wait a minute!!” The Divine Palace Envoy said as his head suddenly jerked upwards. His gaze abruptly turned cold and dangerous as he said, “That treasure key… It is extremely likely that it is in his daughter’s possession!!”

  “Ah!” The Divine Palace Envoy’s words caused everyone to be startled. Su Hengshan’s expression also fiercely changed upon hearing that… and that change in expression had been clearly seen by the Divine Palace Envoy. His face turned dark as he growled in a deep and low voice, “Did you really let that Ling’er escape? Wasn’t anyone sent to secretly keep an eye on her?”

  “This… this…” Su Haoran was completely flustered as he struggled to stammer out an explanation, “Su Ling’er is only… is only a witless young girl… I truly did not think that Su Hengshan would entrust such an important thing… I… I will immediately dispatch people to…”

  “Hmph, there is no need for that! All of you are truly a bunch of worthless trash!!” The Divine Palace Envoy spat as he turned around and spoke to the empty bamboo forest, “Mobilize all of our people and coerce all of the sects in the Country of Supwake along with the Supwake Imperial Family to seal the entire Country of Supwake. I want Su Ling’er to brought before me, even if you have to dig up the ground to accomplish that task!”

  “If she is alive, I want to meet her! If she is dead, I want to see her corpse!”

  “Yes.” a low and deep reply rang out from the depths of the empty bamboo forest.

  ————————————

  ————————————

  Author’s Note:

  The Star God Blood is pretty useless right now, but it will be very useful later on… it will be useful indeed, hohoho.

  Chapter 871: Resolute (1)

  One whole month had passed since Xuanyuan Wentian had invaded Demon Imperial City but the gloomy and tense atmosphere which shrouded Demon Imperial City had yet to fade away. During this period, many experts from all parts of the Illusory Demon Realm had surged into the capital. At the same time, most of the citizens and sects had quietly fled the city… But the Little Demon Empress gave an order to not interfere with or obstruct anyone who chose to run away.

  During the wee hours of the morning, Yun Che was returning to the
Yun Family household from the Demon Imperial Palace. Just as he reached the gates of his house, he met Yun Qinghong, who was just about to return home as well.

  “Father, were you preparing the Great City Barrier Formation together with Grandfather and the rest?”

  Both father and son had stopped in the air above the family gates.

  Yun Qinghong nodded his head, “The Great City Barrier Formation left behind by the first Demon Emperor is incredibly profound. When we hurriedly activated it the last time, it was even able to hold back Xuanyuan Wentian for a large amount of time. So before Xuanyuan Wentian returns, we are putting in all our effort to ensure that the Great City Barrier Formation will be able to perform to its fullest… As for the rest, that is up to the will of heaven.”

  “…Father, forgive me for being direct. But if it’s merely a protection barrier which won’t allow Xuanyuan Wentian to enter Demon Imperial City, even if it can hold him off for more than a year, what’s the point of it all?” Yun Che said as he shook his head, “It will only result in us delaying our deaths for a while more. Furthermore, Xuanyuan Wentian can very well just ignore Demon Imperial City for the moment while he goes to ravage other parts of the Illusory Demon Realm.”

  “Ah, how could I not be aware of this?” Yun Qinghong said with a long sigh. “But it’s not just the Little Demon Empress who isn’t his opponent, even the Golden Crow Divine God won’t be able to match him. So other than this, what else can we do? Struggling until our last breath is still a better option than helplessly waiting for death to come.”

  “Father, if we have the option to flee the Illusory Demon Realm and guarantee that Xuanyuan Wentian won’t be able to find us… Would you and Mother be amenable to that?” Yun Che asked solemnly.

  Yun Qinghong gave him a deep look before speaking, “Would the Little Demon Empress be willing to flee the Illusory Demon Realm together with you?”

  “…” Yun Che was at a loss for words.