Against the Gods

Eastern Divine Region, Star God Realm.

The sky of the Star God Realm was filled with twinkling stars, starlight twinkling throughout its aether. But today, the stars which dotted the sky seemed to be even more brilliant and resplendent than usual, and the entire Star God Realm seemed to be filled with an unusual quiet.

There were prohibitions that were quietly disseminated throughout every corner of the Star God Realm, and from the Star Gods themselves to the lowest slaves and youngest children, no one would be allowed to leave the Star God Realm during these next few days, and those who were abroad were not allowed to return.

Thus, anyone could smell that there was something big brewing in the Star God Realm, and that this big event was going to happen extremely soon.

On this day, an incomparably gigantic barrier was slowly formed among the gleaming stars that were spread out through the sky, engulfing the entire Star God Realm within it.

That’s right, it covered the entire Star God Realm.

Even though the Star God Realm was a sealed king realm and there was already a barrier that would repel outsiders, the normal barrier was absolutely not in the same league as the newly-formed barrier that appeared today… because this barrier was a barrier that no force or power could break through. It was the Star God Realm’s strongest defensive barrier!

After that barrier, which covered the entire Star God Realm, was erected, a second similar barrier was formed within it, covering the core of the Star God Realm… the Star God City where the Star God Emperor and the Twelve Star Gods resided.

The outer barrier was to stop anyone from entering the Star God Realm, while the inner barrier was to ensure that there was absolutely no way the people of the Star God Realm could enter Star God City without permission.

Upon sensing the energy aura that radiated from the barriers, all the strong individuals in the Star God Realm were extremely shocked. As the profound practitioners belonging to the Star God Realm, they were seated in the highest level of the entire god realm, but this energy aura was so vast and majestic that it had reached inconceivable proportions.

There was no way anyone could break through this kind of power, but at the same time, erecting such a fearsome barrier would definitely require an extreme amount of resources and power as well… Without a shadow of a doubt, there was something huge going down in Star God City!

An extremely important and huge affair that definitely could not afford to be disrupted by any outside power.

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As he unconsciously rubbed that ring, Yun Che’s mind was filled with Jasmine’s figure.

His wistful thoughts about Jasmine had been with him since many years ago and not a single day had passed without him thinking of her. But for some odd reason, the yearning and worry in his heart happened to be extremely intense today. He wanted to gradually calm his mind and this feeling in the usual manner, yet somehow, the figure of Jasmine in his mind refused to fade away no matter what, and for no rhyme or reason his desire to see her had instead become exceptionally intense as well.

In the end, it had all gradually coalesced into some sort of weird unease.

“Why is your heart in such chaos?”

Shen Xi’s gentle and cottony voice rang out from beside him, and it was accompanied by a celestial breeze that spread into him. Yun Che shook his head before giving a faint smile, “Nothing much. Perhaps it is because my heart has started to relax after I broke through to the Divine King Realm, so I starting feeling a pressing need to leave this place.”

“But Senior Shen Xi need not worry, I am very clear on one thing. No matter how many cares or worries there are in my heart, now is definitely not the time to leave this place.”

“As I said before,” Shen Xi said with a smile that was not a smile as she walked over, “call me Shen Xi,”

Yun Che was stunned by those words and he said in an embarrassed voice, “Eh… Ah, I always do it unconsciously… I will try to slowly get used to it.”

“Even if you can’t get used to it, it is of no matter,” Shen Xi said in a languid voice. “In the end, an appellation is merely an appellation. It is just that I selfishly desire to not treat you as a junior anymore.”

“Shen Xi,” when he said her name without using the word “Senior”, Yun Che still felt extremely awkward and uncomfortable, it was akin to asking him to address his master as “Xuanyin”, “I have something that I’ve always been very curious about and I’ve wanted to ask you about for the longest time… But I’m also afraid that you’ll get angry with me.”

“You may ask,” Shen Xi said softly.

“Eh, that…” Yun Che spoke in a hesitant voice, “You said this one thing before, that Senior Dragon Monarch has always only be a junior in your eyes. But from what I know, Senior Dragon Monarch’s age has already reached three hundred and fifty thousand years. If that is the case, then isn’t your lifespan… Eh, I mean that…”

“You want to ask me how old I am?” Shen Xi asked.

Yun Che nodded his head before following it up immediately by saying, “I’m just asking you a casual question out of curiosity, if you don’t want to answer it, that’s fine as well.”

Yun Che was a very clever person, even if his physical relationship with Shen Xi was incomparably intimate, he had never asked her about her identity, past or any of her secrets. Because he understood that regarding these matters, Shen Xi would automatically tell him when it was time for him to know. If not, even if he asked, there was also no way he would get a reply.

This question about her age could be counted as the first “secret” that Yun Che was asking Shen Xi about.

Shen Xi’s gaze shifted from him and she looked into the distance, she did not utter a single word for a long period of time.

Yun Che sensed that he seemed to have asked a question that he really should not have, so he swiftly changed the subject, “I guess that when a person has reached the level that you’ve reached, age is probably the most unimportant thing to them. How about… I change the question.”

“Before this, I had obtained the vital yin of a woman who was very strong, a woman whose profound strength had reached the Divine Master level… Cough, cough, cough, and after I cultivated it for one night, I broke into the Divine Soul Realm from the Divine Origin Realm and that was very hard for me to believe at that time.” Even if you beat Yun Che to death, he would have no face to honestly tell you that the “woman” he was speaking about was his master. “But your vital yin was actually far more… that much more powerful than hers. If not for that… there would also be no way for me to break into the Divine King Realm in a short ten months.”

Shen Xi, “...”

“This is why I wanted to ask out of pure curiosity, just what level has your cultivation reached? It couldn’t be… at the level of a god emperor, correct?” Yun Che probed.

Shen Xi’s aura had always given him a vague but boundless sensation. She was the person that Xia Qingyue said was the “most unique” and “greatest” woman in the entire God Realm, so it could be seen that she had already had an extreme amount of fame in the God Realm from a very long time ago.

Her lifespan had even exceeded the Dragon Monarch, and while the Dragon Monarch had extreme adoration for her, he had always been humble and respectful before her, and he had never dared to even have any filthy desires towards her.

All of these were indications that Shen Xi’s cultivation was definitely extremely high. Even if one were to tell him that her cultivation had reached the limits of all living creatures, he definitely would not doubt it.

Shen Xi’s snowy face did not turn towards him. Her eyes remained fixed on some distant vista, the depths of her eyes filled with a disappointment that Yun Che would not be able to understand. This time, she finally opened her mouth to reply him, “The level of power I possess surpasses everything in this universe… and that includes the Dragon Monarch.”

Yun Che had already had pretty high expectations, but upon hearing Shen Xi’s words, he was extremely shocked.

Surpassing… everything in this universe, including the Dragon Monarch!?

“Senior Dragon Monarch is publicly acknowledged as the number one person in the Primal Chaos. If you are stronger than him, then doesn’t that mean…” Yun Che had stood up amidst his excitement and shock, “That you are actually the true number one person in the Primal Chaos?”

If someone said that they were stronger than the Dragon Monarch, everyone would only treat it as crazy talk and fodder for laughter. Yet these words had come from Shen Xi’s own lips.

Ssssiii… Yun Che fiercely sucked in a breath of air! If he was able to cling to this big power that was Shen Xi, then once she left this place in the future, he would not need to be scared of Qianye or whatever anymore!

“No,” Shen Xi gave a faint shake of her head, “I was referring to the ‘level of power that I possess’. It is just that I have no way of releasing this ‘power’.”

“Eh??” Yun Che was completely puzzled by her words.

“You are aware that I am bound by something to this place, but what has been bound is not limited to only my body and soul, even my power has been restricted. Only light profound energy, the purest profound energy, was not bound by this thing that is fettering me, so it has become the only part of my power that I can forcibly use. It is just that light profound energy is not made for battle, so just based on this part of my power alone, there is no way I can be the Dragon Monarch’s opponent.”

These words left Yun Che completely mystified. Just what exactly was thing thing that was “binding” Shen Xi? Her body could not leave this place for long and even her power had been bound. During the time he spent here, he could not think of anything that was able to create this sort of “binding”.

“You said before that you have already found a way to escape these bindings, so you should be able to leave this place very soon. At that time… would there really be no one in this world who could be your opponent?” Yun Che asked in a voice that was filled with expectation. The him who had been fallen under Qianye’s sinister shadow now wanted to cling to Shen Xi in a very disappointing and unbecoming manner.

“No,” Shen Xi still shook her head, “Even if my body and soul escape these fetters, that power is still something I will not be able to control or release.”

“However…” Shen Xi did not wait for Yun Che’s questions as she continued, her eyes swivelling towards him as she gave him a deep look, “In the future, there will be a way.”

“...” Yun Che could clearly feel that the look that Shen Xi had shot him was very strange, as if there was some deep meaning hidden by it.

At this time, Shen Xi’s celestial countenance twitched slightly. She quietly closed her eyes before slowly opening them again as she said, “It seems as if something big is happening in the Star God Realm that you have been yearning for.”

Upon the sudden mention of the three words “Star God Realm”, Yun Che’s head swivelled towards her as if by conditioned reflex, “What’s going on with the Star God Realm?”

Shen Xi slowly said, “Just now I received a piece of news from the Dragon God Realm. About an hour ago, the Star God Realm opened up its ‘Absolute Star Soul Barrier’ which covered the entire space that comprises the Star God Realm.”

“Absolute Star Soul Barrier? What is that?” Yun Che asked.

“It is recorded that it is the strongest defensive barrier that the Star God Realm can erect.” Shen Xi’s gaze was calm and placid, and it was clear she was not too worried about it, “In order to erect this Absolute Star Soul Barrier, just building its foundation alone is enough to exhaust thirty percent of the Star God Realm’s resources.”

“WH… AT!?” Yun Che was well and truly shocked this time. What kind of notion was thirty percent of a king realm’s resources? And yet this barrier actually needed to consume this thirty percent… Just how strong a defensive barrier was this!?

“The reason why it is called the ‘Absolute Star Soul Barrier’ is because it is linked with the blood and souls of the powerhouses of the Star God Realm. Just from the aura alone, the Absolute Star Soul Barrier erected today was formed by the auras of nearly fifty people at the level of Divine Master.”

“Fifty… Divine Masters!?”

Divine Master, the highest existence in the current universe, even in the upper star realms, they still had the capacity to become realm kings! If a star realm did not have a Divine Master, then it would be a completely different thing altogether—the Snow Song Realm and Flame God Realm was the truest example of this, the latter’s combined power was more than ten times stronger than the former, yet they were at a disadvantage just due to the existence of one Mu Xuanyin.

Fifty Divine Masters on the other hand… Yun Che was basically unable to imagine just how terrifying that power would be.

“The Star God Realm has the Twelve Star Gods and thirty seven elders in total. Added together, this fits very well with the number I just mentioned. That is also to say that this Absolute Star Soul Barrier should be linked to the blood and soul of all the Star Gods and elders in the Star God Realm,” Shen Xi tirelessly stated.

“What does that mean?”

“That means that if one wants to break this barrier, one needs to be able to release a power that can simultaneously defeat the Twelve Star Gods and the thirty seven elders.”

“...” Yun Che was completely dumbstruck by this but after that he said, “That sort of power basically doesn’t exist, right?”

“And that is precisely why it has the words ‘Absolute Barrier’ in its name,” Shen Xi said. “It’s just that the price for opening this Absolute Star Soul Barrier is simply far too high and the last time it was opened, it was in the extremely distant past, a time when the Dragon Monarch had not even come into being yet. This time, the Star God Realm has not been met with any natural calamity, nor did anyone bring disaster upon their heads. Furthermore, there is also no power in this universe which can push the Star God Realm to such an extent. Yet they suddenly opened an Absolute Star Soul Barrier that was linked with the life and souls of all their Divine Masters… It looks like the Star God Realm is definitely undertaking some huge task that concerns their future destiny right now.”

“What sort… of huge task could it be?” Yun Che unconsciously asked. When he asked that question, Jasmine’s figure flashed through his mind, causing his heart to thump violently for some odd reason.

“I do not know. A huge task that would cause the Star God Realm to open the Absolute Star Soul Barrier is also something that they definitely will not let anyone else know about.”

As Shen Xi’s voice fell, her beautiful eyes moved and her gaze fell upon the ring on Yun Che’s left hand, “Why is your ring giving off such a strong spiritual aura?”

Yun Che bent his head only to discover that a misty dull blue light was slowly shining from his ring.