Against the Gods

Eastern Divine Region, Moon God Realm.

After passing through both the Eastern and Western Divine Regions, after a long period of lonely isolation, Xia Qingyue had finally returned to the Moon God Realm.

Upon viewing the Moon God Realm that was right in front of her eyes, her heart and mind were completely different from what they had been at any instant before this.

She managed to pass the Moon God Realm’s isolating barrier with no trouble at all and before she had ventured too far forward, two Moon Guards had discovered her aura.

“Xia Qingyue!?”

Two white lights suddenly flashed as the great Moon Guards had already appeared in front of Xia Qingyue, their strong and domineering auras squarely locking onto her, “You still dare to return!”

Just as their explosive shouts had left their mouths, a low and heavy voice rang out from behind them, “Withdraw.”

Following the rippling of space, a gaunt man whose entire body was clad in golden armor appeared out of thin air. Both of his eyes released a dense golden light that was hard for people to look directly into, and a powerful oppressive might that froze the air around him accompanied that golden glare.

The moment he appeared, the two great Moon Guards felt their whole bodies go tense as they hurriedly bowed down, “We greet the Golden Moon God!”

Golden Moon God Yue Wuji looked at Xia Qingyue with a complex look in his eyes before he said in a calm voice, “Our king has been waiting for you for many days.”

“...” Xia Qingyue did not say anything. She merely gave a faint nod of her head as she took to the air and stole past him, heading toward Divine Moon City.

It was a huge and spacious great hall and even the gentle moonlight was unable to eradicate the cold loneliness of this place. At the end of the great hall, the Moon God Emperor was seated on the seat meant for the god emperor, his face expressionless.

Xia Qingyue slowly strode forward and stopped in the heart of the great hall before she slowly knelt to the ground.

“Qingyue…” The Moon God Emperor gave a cold and gloomy sigh, “When you returned this time, weren’t you afraid that I would kill you?”

“Foster father won’t kill me,” she knelt on the ground and gloomily replied.

“...” The Moon God Emperor's face immediately twisted up. But he could not keep it up and his features relaxed as he said in a manner which seemed caught between crying and laughter, “Qingyue, couldn't you have at least asked for forgiveness and made a display of obedience? This stubborn streak of yours is completely unlike your mother all those years ago.”

“...”

Xia Qingyue closed her beautiful eyes before she spoke softly, “The debt of gratitude I owe to foster father is as deep as an ocean, yet Qingyue ended up harming foster fathers reputation for the rest of his life. Even though foster father definitely won't kill me, Qingyue… also doesn't have the face to beg for foster father's forgiveness.”

The Moon God Emperor's brows furrowed before he let out an empathic sigh, “If it was several decades ago, I might really have killed both you and that kid Yun Che in a fit of extreme rage. But I still remember what happened all those years ago when I had become completely deranged and had lost all rationality. It took me years to recover, and I even did many things that in retrospect were completely cruel and insane.”

“But you are not your mother, and the current me is different from the me in the past as well.”

“This time, my rage lasted less than two hours before I regained my composure. The wedding that day, I had said it was for the future of the Moon God Realm, but in actuality… it was still a preposterous move motivated by my disordered heart and selfish desires. Furthermore, you were also bound by the debt of gratitude you felt that you owed me due to the past few years. So perhaps the appearance of that kid Yun Che was the will of heaven after all… So destroying all of those plans is fine as well. Now that I've carefully thought it over for the past few days, if you had not made the choice that you had made that day, I… and especially your mother, on the contrary, may actually have been disappointed in you.”

Xia Qingyue raised her head, her gaze trembling, “Foster father…”

“Heh heh.” The Moon God Emperor shook his head, “Are you really shocked that I’d think this way? I’m pretty shocked myself as well, or perhaps… my time is really coming soon, so there is nothing I can’t accept or figure out anymore.”

“Foster father, you…”

“You don’t need to say anything else.” The Moon God Emperor waved his hand, his face composed, “It’s not that I totally believe the prophecy given by the Heavenly Mystery Realm. Rather, it is because a similar feeling has been coming more and more frequently to me during this period of time, and it has also been becoming more and more intense.”

“Qingyue, if you truly want to make up for the guilt you feel towards me, and you want to repay the favor and grace that I have shown you over the past few years…” The Moon God Emperor’s chest rose and fell, his eyes solemn and heavy, “Inherit my divine power. The reason why I have done my utmost to be good to you over the past few years is because I want to have some peace of mind and a clear conscience when I transfer my divine power to you. I know that in the end this is something that I am ‘imposing’ upon you, but… this is the only selfish desire that I cannot let go of.”

“But the good thing is that after what happened at the ‘wedding ceremony’, you no longer need to, nor will you ever be able to, become the Moon God Emperor anymore. Even though it is a great regret of mine, I think that it will be much easier for you to accept it now… So, I can feel more at peace with myself as well.

“...” Xia Qingyue did not reply.

“Tomorrow, I will announce to the public that I am taking you as my foster daughter…” The Moon God Emperor had wanted to continue but after a moment of hesitance, his tone changed slightly and he said, “Go see your mother, she has been worrying constantly about you over the past few days. Put her worries to rest first. We will talk about everything else again tomorrow.”

“Yes,” Xia Qingyue softly replied. After that she got to her feet and began to slowly walk away from the hall.

“Oh yes, what happened to Yun Che?” The Moon God Emperor suddenly asked, “He did not enter the Eternal Heaven Pearl and to this day, there hasn’t been any other news about him. The Eternal Heaven Realm must definitely be feeling deeply regretful that the situation has turned out the way it is.”

Xia Qingyue stood there quietly, she did not reply.

The Moon God Emperor waved his hand, “Fine, fine. Go quickly to see your mother then.”

But Xia Qingyue did not leave. Instead she suddenly said, “Foster father, the words that you said to me on this day three years ago, I now truly understand them. I also suddenly understand that the true obstacle that prevented me from ‘returning’ all these years has never been foster father at all, but it has been myself all along.”

After she finished speaking, she started walking once more and she quietly left the hall.

The Moon God Emperor had been struck dumb by those words, confusion, and suspicion writ large on his face. But all of the sudden, his eyebrows jumped and he leapt to his feet, an extremely rare expression of ecstatic joy and emotion on his face.

“Qingyue, if you have truly understood, then even if I… die ten thousand times over, I will have no regrets!”

……………..

The small world where Yue Wugou resided had been a hidden secret all along, and very few people could approach it. As she drew near, the surroundings had become quiet and still.

Xia Qingyue’s footsteps were slow and heavy, and no one could comprehend her current emotional state. From the moment she saw Yun Che again, her heart and soul had received consecutive impacts that were heavy enough to overturn her entire world… to choose, to abandon, to flee for one’s life, to feel fear and terror, to feel absolutely helpless, to face death, to feel utter despair, and to receive hope...

She felt a chill run through her entire body, and her footsteps came to a sudden stop at this moment. This was because a dreadful force that could not be resisted firmly latched onto her body, pressing down on her. At this moment, a woman’s incomparably cold and icy voice rang in her ear:

“Where is Yun Che!?”

Xia Qingyue was unable to turn around. Her eyes darted to the side and she saw the corner of snow-white skirt and several icy-blue strands of hair.

This definitely was not someone from the Moon God Realm, yet she could infiltrate the Moon God Realm without being detected!?

“Who are you?” Xia Qingyue asked instead.

“Answer my question… Where is Yun Che!?” The woman’s voice grew even colder as an icy spear stretched out from behind Xia Qingyue and rested lightly against her throat.

“...” Xia Qingyue lapsed into a brief moment of silence before suddenly speaking, “Ah, so you are Yun Che’s master, Senior Mu Xuanyin.”

The air immediately grew colder by several degrees. After several breaths of heavy silence, the icy spear that was pointed against Xia Qingyue’s throat slowly melted away and the force which had locked her in place also disappeared.

Xia Qingyue turned around, her eyes coming to rest on an icy face that was so beautiful that it caused the very heavens and earth to lose their color. She was wearing snowy robes that looked similar to what Yun Che was wearing that day, and her extremely beautiful face seemed to be covered in a layer of ice and icy might which froze any emotion on her face. Xia Qingyue made a small curtsy as she said, “Junior Xia Qingyue greets Senior Mu.”

A strange light flashed in her eyes as she raised her eyes once more. She had never thought that Snow Song Realm’s realm king, Yun Che’s master, would actually be such a beauty.

“How did you guess that it was me?” Mu Xuanyin’s icy eyes stared at Xia Qingyue up close as she coldly asked.

Xia Qingyue answered, “Yun Che mentioned to me before that Senior Mu was his greatest benefactor in the God Realm. Even though she looks cold and emotionless, she had always looked out for him in every way.”

“Furthemore, you have taken such a huge risk in infiltrating the Moon God Realm just to ask about his whereabouts. Moreover, your profound strength is extremely high and your profound energy is extremely cold… Yun Che has only been in the Eastern Divine Region for a few short years, so the only one who meets all those requirements would be Senior Mu,” She continued, “Furthermore, the person who appeared outside the God Realm of Absolute Beginning… was also Senior Mu, correct?”

“...” Mu Xuanyin’s icy eyebrows twitched faintly.

“To be able to enter the Moon God Realm without being detected. With this kind of strength, it is natural that you would be able to hold off the gray-robed man at Qianye Ying’er’s side. It looks like this vast Eastern Divine Region has been incredibly mistaken about Senior Mu’s actual strength.”

Mu Xuanyin’s icy brows narrowed slightly as she stared steadily at Xia Qingyue for a good while.

Xia Qingyue did not try to dodge the icy and terrifying gaze that rested upon on her. On the contrary, she actually looked straight at those eyes which radiated an icy-blue light, “Senior, please do not worry. This junior knows what should be said and what shouldn’t be said.”

Mu Xuanyin did not refute her but she also did not make any small talk. Instead she icily asked once again, “Answer my question, where is Yun Che? Why is it that you came back by yourself?”

“He is in the Dragon God Realm,” Xia Qingyue said.

“Why did you leave him in the Dragon God Realm?”

“Qianye Ying’er inflicted him with the Brahma Soul Death-Wishing Mark.”

“...What!?” Mu Xuanyin’s expression drastically changed, and her aura, which had originally been extremely stable, had now started violently fluctuate.

“Senior, please don’t worry. The reason he was left in the Dragon God Realm is because there is someone in the Dragon God Realm who is helping him get rid of the Brahma Soul Death-Wishing Mark.” As she saw the change in Mu Xuanyin’s demeanor, Xia Qingyue felt a needle of unhappiness and discontent prick her heart: After taking everything into account, Yun Che had only been in the Snow Song Realm for three years. Yet he actually caused the Snow Song Realm King, who was possessed of both surpassing beauty and strength, to worry for him to such an extent...

Were they really just student and teacher?

“It’s not possible…” The cold light in Mu Xuanyin’s eyes wavered as she was unable to keep her icy face composed, “If he was truly afflicted by the Brahma Soul Death-Wishing Mark, then other than Qianye Ying’er, no one else can get rid of it! Just who exactly…”

All of the sudden, her icy brows jumped and she thought of someone. “Do you mean…”

“Shen Xi,” Xia Qingyue softly said those two words.

“...” Mu Xuanyin’s icy eyes had always been trained on Xia Qingyue, yet she discovered that Xia Qingyue had been incredibly calm from start to finish despite being pressured by her oppressive might. Furthermore, a girl her age shouldn’t possess such composure… She was so composed that it was eerie.

On the contrary… she did not know if she was mistaken, but she actually seemed to feel a faint oppressive feeling which did not seem to fade in and out of existence… coming from Xia Qingyue’s body?

“Can she truly purge the Brahma Soul Death-Wishing Mark? And why did she let Yun Che stay behind?” Mu Xuanyin asked. It was indeed a distinct possibility that Shen Xi could indeed get rid of the Brahma Soul Death-Wishing Mark but she resided in the Forbidden Land of Samsara, and had never allowed any living creature to come near that place, much less step into it. However, she could not detect any deception or lies coming from Xia Qingyue’s body.

“Senior Shen Xi said herself that she could get rid of the Brahma Soul Death-Wishing Mark, and it will also only take about fifty years,” Xia Qingyue said in that gentle and calm voice. “As for why she accepted Yun Che, it is the fruit of the good karma he previously earned with his actions.”

“It is indeed an extremely regretful thing for him to be unable to enter the Eternal Heaven Divine Realm. But for Yun Che, to be able to remain at Senior Shen Xi’s side while getting rid of his Brahma Soul Death-Wishing Mark, isn’t it simply another extremely rare opportunity for him? Thus, I hope Senior Mu can be at ease for now… At least for the next fifty years, he will be absolutely safe.”

Mu Xuanyin’s disordered aura slowly started to regain its composure at this moment. Indeed, being accepted by Shen Xi was indeed an extremely great opportunity for Yun Che. Even though the short term gains could not be compared to the the three thousand years spent in the Eternal Heaven Pearl, the long term gains would definitely outstrip those three thousand years.

Because it was Shen Xi… The most unique existence in the entire God Realm.

Though he needed to first gain Shen Xi’s favor.

But… although it was rumored that Shen Xi was extremely gentle and graceful, behind that gentleness and grace lay an unyielding emotionlessness. It was as if she was an extremely indifferent person, someone who seemed to not have been born with all the desires and emotions that a normal person was born with.

This kind of person, could he truly gain her favor… even just a little bit of it?