Against the Gods

Chapter 1355 - Dreaming of the Profound Sky

The news of the Moon God Emperor’s death once again sent huge shockwaves through the Eastern Divine Region which had already been covered in the Evil Infant’s dark shadow. As a result, the fear and terror surrounding the Evil Infant grew even more dense and thick.

Countless profound practitioners were running around like headless chickens, terror and impending doom seized their hearts as they searched everywhere for any trace of the Evil Infant. The various king realms had nearly turned out in full force. They needed to take advantage of the fact that the Evil Infant was seriously wounded to find her and eliminate her in the shortest amount of time.

Day after day passed by and countless profound practitioners had combed over every inch of land in the Eastern Divine Region, but no one was able to discover any traces of the Evil Infant… they had not been able to find even a single trace.

Every day that passed with no news of the Evil Infant meant that she had recovered a bit more so the anxiety that twined around the heart of every Eastern Divine Region profound practitioner, especially the profound practitioners from the king realms, increased steadily as they felt the dark shadow of the Evil Infant grow more and more dense...

Considering the fact that this incident might involve the fate of the entire Eastern Divine Region, the first king realm that was nearly destroyed during the disaster—Star God Realm—actually didn’t catch as much attention as it should have.

What used to be a king realm had turned into a scorched, desolate wasteland. Devilish energy was still consuming everything, and the sky remained unnaturally dark. No one who set foot in this place would believe that it was once the Star God Realm at all. In fact, they might think that they had accidentally entered the dangerous, dark, and desolate grounds of the Northern Divine Region.

“We’ve scoured more than half of the Star God Realm, but we only found a couple thousand or so survivors at the fringes. Moreover… most of them were tainted by the devilish energy.”

The Star God Great Elder reported sadly before Star God Emperor.

“What about the auxiliary star realms?” the Star God Emperor asked.

The Heavenly Jade Star God, Aster answered, “That battle created a massive space storm that severely impacted the nearby star realms. All our auxiliary star realms have suffered considerable damage.”

“...” Xing Juekong closed his eyes before lifting a powerless hand and gesturing, “The remaining elders should keep searching for survivors. Aster, please notify the other Star Gods to keep searching for an auxiliary Star Realm that suits our needs.”

“Understood.”

Aster shot a glance at the Star God Emperor before asking worriedly, “My king, your wounds…”

“It’s fine,” Xing Juekong said indifferently. “Go.”

Aster’s lips parted. She had wanted to ask if they should search for Heavenly Wolf Star God Caizhi, but… in the end, she chose to give up her wishful thought.

There was no way there would be forgiveness between them, even if they were tied by blood...

The remaining six Star Gods and seventeen elders left again while Xing Juekong remained seated where he was. Not only had he stayed in that position for the past few days, he had almost never gotten up to his feet.

“Cough… cough cough…”

Xing Juekong clutched his chest and coughed painfully, the seemingly unending stream of pitch black blood dying the pitch black ground beneath his feet even blacker. Although the Evil Infant's Wheel of Myriad Tribulations had only regained a tiny portion of its strength, its level was so high that the devilish energy ravaging his body felt like devils that kept eating at his body and life force without end.

He possessed the body of a god emperor. He was supposed to be strong enough to suppress its effects and recover, albeit very slowly. However, the current state of the Star God Realm and the cause behind everything made it very difficult for him to calm down, not to mention that the pressure and torment he was feeling on the inside was far worse than his body’s. Moreover, his injuries had actually worsened for the past few days, as if the fact that his energy recovery wasn’t catching up to the speed at which it was being consumed wasn’t bad enough already.

He wanted to calm himself down, but he just couldn’t. When he opened his eyes, he would be greeted by the devastated land of the Star God Realm. When he closed his eyes, he would be greeted by the infinite darkness and hatred behind Jasmine’s pupils...

Back when he and Eternal Heaven God Emperor had parted ways, he had said that he would rather die in the Star God Realm. At this rate though, he might actually be prophesying his own death. He needed to find a place where he could calm himself down, but he just couldn’t rest in Eternal Heaven no matter what… He was a god emperor. He couldn’t rely on the charity of another god emperor no matter what!

Therefore, Star God Realm’s auxiliary star realms had become his last choice.

“Mm…”

The devilish energy ravaged his body yet again, and Xing Juekong was forced to point a finger at his heart and suppress it with all his might. His complexion had changed several times in the process, but in the end he managed to stop it and spit out a mouthful of nearly pitch black blood.

His complexion recovered just a little, and his aura calmed down slightly after some heavy panting.

It was at this moment that a ray of icy blue light suddenly erupted from the space dead ahead of him.

Not only had the cold light appeared out of nowhere, it was less than three meters away from Xing Juekong.

It was a flawless white sword covered in blue light, and it was aimed straight at Xing Juekong’s heart… at the speed it was traveling, three meters might as well be nothing at all.

Xing Juekong’s pupils shrank abruptly, but his emptied profound veins and impossibly heavy limbs made it impossible for him to react to the attack at all. The cold light passed through his heart in the blink of an eye.

“Hmm!”

Eyes bulging and pupils shrinking, Xing Juekong stared as a woman clad in icy blue colors appeared in front of him while still gripping the sword that had impaled him.

Shock, fear, disbelief, and more gripped him… he had never seen such a chilly pair of eyes in his life, and this one seemed cold enough to turn the entire world to a frozen hell.

It was true that he had been severely injured, mostly powerless, and very distracted… but he was still the Star God Emperor. It should have been impossible for the entity to avoid his detection and get as close as just three meters away from him!

It was a completely undetectable and merciless attack that had come out of nowhere… He wasn’t sure if he could’ve avoided the attack even if he was in his best form, much less now.

She had a pair of immeasurable cold eyes, and a countenance that eclipsed every ice and snow that existed in this world.

“Snow… Song… Realm… King… Mm!”

He forced his voice out of his throat. Then, a layer of ice spread out from the Snow Princess Sword and sealed away all of the god emperor’s body, organs, blood, profound aura and finally, the profound veins. With that, she had also cut off the weakened god emperor’s final chance to struggle.

Mu Xuanyin said nothing in return as she stared at Xing Juekong coldly. The chill in her eyes made it clear that it was all she could do not to crush him and turn him into the world’s tiniest particles.

Mu Xuanyin had been hiding nearby using Moon Splitting Cascade since a day ago, waiting for a golden opportunity to present itself.

That golden opportunity had appeared just now when all the Star Gods and elders had left far enough that they were completely beyond her senses. After that, she raised the Snow Princess Sword and impaled the emperor of a king realm that none but the Evil Infant had dared to offend.

The ice covered the Star God Emperor again and again without a sound until the man was completely frozen inside and out. It was to the extent where even his aura had become completely concealed.

She didn’t pull the Snow Princess Sword out of the Star God Emperor’s heart. She lifted the block of ice with a gust of cold wind before taking off into the distance.

    …………

Snow Song Realm, Heavenly Netherfrost Lake.

Bang!!

When the Snow Princess Sword had returned to its home, the block of ice that held the Star God Emperor fell from high up in the sky before shattering into pieces. Although the Star God Emperor was physically freed, that didn’t mean that he had escaped the icy nightmare Mu Xuanyin had thrown him into. Lying powerlessly on the ground, the Star God Emperor curled into a ball on the ground and shivered uncontrollably. Not only could he not get up on his feet, he could hardly control his own limbs...

He never knew that the cold could be so terrifying until now, and worse his god emperor profound veins were so thoroughly suppressed that he wasn’t able to unleash even a bit of profound energy. He couldn’t understand why… he might have lost a large amount of profound energy, but he still had his Star God origin energy. So how was the Snow Song Realm King who wasn’t even a midstage Divine Master able to freeze his profound veins to such an extent?

What was even more incomprehensible to him was the fact that the realm king of a tiny middle star realm had found the courage and reason to attack him, a god emperor, and bring him back to her home no less… Did she not realize the consequences of her actions!?

“Do… you know… who… I am…” He had to stutter out the simple line because he was shaking too much. Try as he might, he wasn’t able to draw any energy from his frozen profound veins to dispel the frigid cold that was plaguing him.

“Aren’t you afraid… that I will… annihilate… your… Snow Song Realm…”

His words had failed to elicit any emotion from Mu Xuanyin except one: a terrible cold that was colder than even the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake. “Xing Juekong, you had driven my disciple, Yun Che to death and the Evil Infant to awaken in this world… and yet you had the galls to lie to the entire world and claim that he had died at the Evil Infant’s hands…”

Every word she uttered was fueled by passion and hate, and the hand she using to grip the Snow Princess Sword was shaking like a leaf. It was clear from the erratic light flickering across the body of the sword that she was nearing the end of her control. “You deserve to die ten... thousand... times... over!”

“...” Xing Juekong was speechless. The only reason Mu Xuanyin could’ve figured this out was because she had planted a soul crystal inside Yun Che. However, that didn’t stop him from stuttering through his purple lips in disbelief. “You want to kill… me… because Yun Che… an insignificant disciple of the Snow Song Realm… perished in my hands!?”

Mu Xuanyin gritted her teeth a little tighter. “Insignificant disciple of the Snow Song Realm?... True. Maybe he really is a lowly, humble, and young profound practitioner to you god emperors… and no matter how outstanding he turned out to be, he will always be insignificant in your eyes… But did you know… did you know…”

At this point her aura had completely fallen, and her voice was shaking so much that she wasn’t able to say anything else. Instead she stabbed the Star God Emperor again in the dantian, her hatred barely subdued under great effort.

No blood flowed out of Xing Juekong’s body because of the Snow Princess Sword’s freezing properties. The god emperor himself felt no pain either.

“Star God Emperor… these three words are probably the most important thing in your life, aren’t they?” Her chest heaved heavily as she spoke, “You destroyed Yun Che… the most important person… in my life… and so I will destroy your god emperor power in return… and let you know what pain truly means!!”

“...” the Star God Emperor was still shaking, but he let out a low, twisted chuckle when he heard her preposterous claim, “You? Destroy my god emperor power?”

But the Snow Princess Sword suddenly bloomed like an exploding blue star just as he finished speaking, causing the Star God Emperor’s expression to drastically change. His nerves should’ve been completely numb and frozen, but he still could sense clearly countless needles stabbing into his profound veins and tearing his divinely protected profound veins into bits again and again...

Worse, his remaining spiritual senses informed him that the power that was destroying his profound veins was almost as strong as when he was at his full strength!!

Logically speaking, there was no way the power of a midstage Divine Master could destroy his profound veins even in his current state. It was because they were normally protected by the star god origin energy. However, the power invading his profound veins was at a level that he hadn’t anticipated even in his dreams. The Star God Emperor started twisting and tossing madly as his face became distorted with ten, no, a hundred times the fear he was experiencing before, “No… No… Forgive me… No!! I am the Star God Emperor… No one can do this to me… No… I can promise you anything… No… No… Uahhh!”

BANG!!!

There was a loud bang and a chaotic refraction of light, and Xing Juekong’s profound veins… the profound veins of a god emperor were crushed to bits. They would never recover again for all of eternity.

At the same time, bits of starlight floated away from his body… it was the Heavenly Chief Star God’s origin power, and after losing its carrier, the energy flew up to the sky and eventually dissipated somewhere.

“...” The Star God Emperor lay on the ground and stared at the Heavenly Chief starlight that was slowly but surely flying away from him, his eyes filled with gray and despair.

His profound veins were ruined. The Heavenly Chief divine power that had accompanied him for his whole life had scattered...

There was nothing more cruel to a profound practitioner than to lose their profound power.

However, the loss one’s profound veins was even worse than that.

Xing Juekong… Once upon a time, he was a god emperor of the Eastern Divine Region, but right now at this moment, he had fallen from the highest peak to the lowest bottom possible. He had become a cripple.

An eternal cripple.

This was a thousand times, ten thousand times more cruel than just killing him outright...

“Kill me… kill… me…” He stared at the colorless sky and muttered dazedly. His eyes had lost the last bit of their color, leaving behind only gray despair and a suicidal will.

“Kill you?” Mu Xuanyin uttered coldly. Xing Juekong’s terrible state still wasn’t enough to wipe out the hatred in her heart, “Trust me, I very, very much want to tear you into a million pieces. However… you don’t deserve a quick, painless death!”

Her breathing grew more and more erratic, and her chest looked like it would fall out of her clothes. For perhaps the first time in her life, an unprecedented level of malevolence crept onto her exquisite face as she uttered, “I won’t kill you. In fact, I’ll make sure that you live a long, long life!”

“We are at the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake of the Snow Song Realm, the place Yun Che stayed the longest out of any other! I will freeze you and leave you here so that you may suffer a freezing pain every time you breathe! Your body is that of a god emperor’s, so the spirit energy in this place will prevent you from even committing suicide! You will live here… kneel… repent… and atone until the end of time!!”

Crack!

After that, Xing Juekong was encased in ice in one deafening crack. Inside the block of ice, his eyes looked colorless, and he was frozen in a kneeling position facing toward the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake. He would never wake up from this eternal nightmare…

    ————

At another space.

The first thing he felt through the blackness was his own consciousness, creeping up to him slowly. Then, his bodily senses slowly returned to him as well. However, his body felt like it weighed a ton.

Where… is this?

Is this heaven… or hell?

Heh… I must be in hell, considering the kind of person I am.

An aching numbness soon hit him from every part of his body, and his eyes felt unbelievably heavy. When he tried to open his eyes, the weak ray of light had nearly blinded him.

He subconsciously tried to block the light with his eyes, but he wasn’t able to lift his unbelievably heavy arms. The only action he had managed with the impulse was a twitch of his fingers.

“Ah!”

A girl’s exclamation suddenly resounded next to his years.

“Benefactor brother… you’re awake… you’re awake, right!?”

It wasn’t a delusion. There really was a girl’s voice speaking excitedly, urgently and shakily right beside his ears.

He opened his lips and tried to say something, but the only thing that exited his throat was a raspy groan that was barely noticeable.

However, it was the groan and the twitching of his fingers that prompted the young girl to shout in joy yet again. She ran off all of a sudden before she suddenly tripped on something hard because she was too hasty to notice. Then, her tearful shout seemingly came from a distance, “Father… mother… brother… come quickly! Benefactor brother has woken up… he woke up!”

“...” He tried very hard to open his eyes.

Where was this place?

If this was hell, then why could he hear the vivid, true voice of a girl?

This couldn’t be heaven, could it?