Against the Gods

“Heehee… Heeheeheehee… fresh meat has finally been delivered to our doorstep.”

This was human speech, but no one would believe that it had been uttered by a human.

Because this voice was so hoarse that it sounded like metal scraping against metal. It sounded so dark and sinister that it resembled the low and terrifying moan made by evil spirits.

“It’s a level eight Divine Sovereign. Could this be the Yun Che that scamp Yan Jie was talking about?”

A different person spoke this time, but his voice was just as hoarse and hard to understand as the first one, and it grated against Yun Che’s soul.

“Hehhehheh… It looks like you’re right. But he got thrown in here pretty quickly huh… Heehehheh… This truly disappoints this old ghost.”

A third voice rang out in the air and it sounded like teeth being ground together. The sound was so harsh and ugly that it caused Yun Che’s heart to spasm as those words entered his ears.

However, their auras were far more terrifying than their voices. They were as vast and boundless as the ocean and they radiated a dark oppressive might that was as heavy as ten thousand mountains.

Furthermore, they had not fully unleashed their auras yet. This was the spiritual pressure that naturally radiated from their bodies. But Yun Che could already tell that these three auras were no weaker than Yan Tianxiao when he had attacked him.

No, in fact, two of these people were clearly stronger than him!

And Yan Tianxiao was publicly acknowledged as the strongest god emperor in the Northern Divine Region! Chi Wuyao had also mentioned in the soul message that she had sent Yun Che that she was weaker than Yan Tianxiao when it came to cultivation alone.

However, there were now two auras that exceeded Yan Tianxiao’s aura in strength and the third one seemed no weaker than his.

This was a world-shaking discovery that would rock the Northern Divine Region for a very long time. It even caused Yun Che to pause in amazement. Though it was not fear that was reflected in his eyes after this discovery. It was… an excitement that seemed to burn like a raging fire.

In the end, they were still old monsters who had inherited the original True Devil blood and basked in this ancient dark yin energy for nearly a million years. They had not disappointed him one bit!

Rather than not disappointing him, it would be better to call this a pleasant surprise!

Even if a human reached the very limits of his race, he still would not be able to compare to the emperor of dragons, Long Bai. That was the difference between the two races.

However, the two stronger Yama Ancestors among this trio were definitely no weaker than the strongest god emperors of the Eastern and Southern Divine Regions, Qianye Fantian and Nan Wansheng!

The weakest was no weaker than the Eternal Heaven God Emperor, Zhou Xuzi!

This was a huge amount of power!

But alas, in order to attain this power and longevity, they had no choice but to hole up in this place and never see the light of day ever again!

In Yun Che’s eyes, their lives could not even be compared to the lives of domesticated livestock, much less the god emperors!

Crack, crack, crack!

The sound of devil bones being stepped on slowly drew nearer. Yun Che’s gloomy black eyes pierced the darkness and he slowly made out three figures which resembled evil spirits within this gloom.

That’s right, evil spirits!

These three black figures were equally hunched over and withered. Their exposed skin was as ashen as a corpse and it seemed to be wrapped tightly around their shrunken bones. Their four limbs were even more thin and withered than the branches of a truly dead … They barely had any characteristics of a living human.

In fact, if they were to lie down on the ground motionless, everyone would believe that these were three withered corpses.

However, the movement of their withered limbs and the gloomy and hellish light that glinted in their eyes showed that they were still alive! Yes, they resembled three “ghosts” who were actually still alive!

“Yan Wanchi, Yan Wanhun, Yan Wangui.”

Yun Che’s lips curved up as he muttered the names of the Three Yama Ancestors under his breath.

During the earliest part of the Northern Divine Region’s history, it was these Three Yama Ancestors who had found the devil blood and Yama Devil Art left behind by the Primordial Yama Devils. They had conquered the Bone Sea of Eternal Darkness and established the Yama Realm, a power which would dominate the entire history of the Northern Divine Region.

Their accomplishments and achievements echoed down through the generations.

They had survived to this day but they had been reduced to these miserable, inhuman shapes. It was pitiful and laughable.

The three “corpses” came to a halt. The looks in their eyes changed and that far too-terrifying dark oppressive might which they released started to faintly tremble.

It had been far too long since they had heard their own names.

Yun Che slowly raised a hand, his palm facing the three Yama Ancestors. A cluster of black light gently flickered in his hand as he said, “Yun Che… You three had best carve that name into your very souls.”

“Because that is the name of your future master!”

When he said those words in a deep voice, they sounded no different than heavenly law pronouncing their judgement!

Once the three Yama Ancestors heard it, they felt as if someone had injected life and vitality into their souls, souls which had been withered by this interminable darkness. That was because they simply found Yun Che’s words too funny. It was a joke that made them crack up in laughter.

“Heh heh… hahahaha…. Heeehahahahahaha…”

Three ghoulish laughs rang out in the air as they overlapped one another. It sounded so harsh and grating that Yun Che thought that thousands of sharp blades were being stabbed into his eardrums.

They laughed in an uproarious and unrestrained manner. The joke they had just heard was practically manna from heaven, causing their shriveled skin to glow with vitality.

“Heehahahaha… there are already three crazy old ghosts trapped in this place, but we never expected for a little ghost who is even crazier than us to appear… Heeehahahaha!”

“Yun Che. This name does indeed match the name of the person the kids told us about. The Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor? The Eternal Calamity of Darkness? Killing the Burning Moon God Emperor with a single stroke of his sword? Heeheeheehee… in the end, it was all nothing but crazy talk.”

“So who does this little lunatic’s vital energy belong to?”

“However…”

The Yama Ancestor whose aura was the strongest stretched out his hand. As he flexed his withered fingers, dark energy instantly started to swirl in the air. He stared at Yun Che, those old deep-set eyes that resembled pools of inky darkness narrowed into two terrifying slits. “This little ghost is merely a Divine Sovereign, but he can still remain standing in front of us three old ghosts. Not bad.”

“Heehehheh, since when would a crazy little ghost know the meaning of the word ‘fear’?”

The ghoulish figure in the middle slowly walked forward. Every step he took was accompanied by darkness energy that rippled in the air like violent waves. “Little ghost, we three old ghosts have lived for eight hundred and ninety thousand years, and there hasn’t ever been anyone who has dared to say something so ridiculous and absurd to us… Heeheehee, in fact, it makes me a little reluctant to suck you dry immediately.”

The words “ugly” and “repulsive” could not even begin to describe his sinister smile. If anyone even took a glimpse of it, it would haunt their dreams for years to come.

This talking evil spirit was the boss of the Three Yama Ancestors. The strongest among them, Yan Wanchi.

“Eight hundred and ninety thousand years?” Yun Che started smiling as well. Compared to Yan Wanchi’s sinister smile, his smile was filled with a deep derision and pity. “But even three crippled wild dogs can proudly live under the sun.”

“Old things who can’t even be compared to wild dogs, you actually holed up in this place for more than eight hundred thousand years? How tragic and pathetic is that. Yet you’re actually proud of it? Hahahaha…”

He let out a low laugh as he slowly shook his head. The pity that was evident in the curl of his lips stabbed into the Three Yama Ancestors’ eyes like a poisoned knife. “You are the three biggest and most pathetic jokes in the history of the Northern Divine Region… Oh no, no, I mean the entire God Realm. Three old bedbugs who were buried in this unbearably noxious place. So where do you even find the shamelessness required to laugh wildly in my face, hmmm?”

The Three Yama Ancestors had lived for an exceedingly long time but their existences had long since become painful to themselves. In fact, it had really become quite pitiful. However, as the Yama Realm’s founding ancestors, level ten Divine Masters who had reached the zenith of darkness profound energy, who would dare to insult them even if they truly could be compared to a bedbug? Who would dare to insult them so!?

As the founding ancestors of the Yama Realm, all of the Yama Emperors, past and present, had to treat them with the utmost dignity and respect. They did not even dare do anything which would imply disrespect.

As practitioners of a negative profound energy, it would normally not be possible for them to be enraged by a few words.

Unfortunately, even the strongest spirit would become twisted after being holed up in this place for hundreds of thousands of years.

The souls of the Three Yama Ancestors had long since become incredibly warped and violent. Furthermore, Yun Che’s insult was the most humiliating thing they had heard in years and it was aimed directly at their sore spot. There was no doubt it agitated the twisted minds of the Three Yama Ancestors, stirring them up into a frenzy.

“Sssss…. Uwaaaaaaah!” The Three Yama Ancestors shuddered as a frightening black light radiated from their eyes. Wails which did not even sound human ripped from their throats.

“You damn brat!” Yan Wanchi slashed the air with a clawed hand as he howled, “Aren’t you a little too eager to die!!?”

“Heh.” Yun Che’s smile grew even more derisive. “Just a few sentences are enough to stir you into a frenzy. Just look at your ugly appearances right now. It looks like even comparing you to bedbugs was doing you a favor.”

“Heeaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!” The old ghost on the right—second of the Three Yama Ancestors, Yan Wanhun, could no longer hold back any longer. His body shot out as he yelled, “I’ll rip him apart with my bare hands!”

When that small and hunched figure started to barrel through the air, his aura was so vast and boundless that it seemed to cause the clouds to move, it was so strong that it felt like it could crush mountains and flip over the seas.

The ancestral devil blood that the Yama Ancestors had inherited and the Yama Devil Art they cultivated had caused their life force and profound veins to form a strange connection with the Bone Sea of Eternal Darkness. This was also the source of their indestructibility and their immortality.

When his power erupted, the entire Bone Sea of Eternal Darkness started to shake and it was accompanied by what sounded like the wailing of countless restless ghosts and evil spirits.

Yun Che did not even move an inch even as Yan Wanhun was rushing toward him. However, a blood-colored profound energy suddenly erupted from his body.

He had opened the Hell Monarch gate!

The Heretic God’s Darkness Seed, the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor’s Eternal Calamity of Darkness… He did not need to make a single movement or thought. The incomparably dense darkness profound energy surrounding them was naturally attracted to him and it crazily surged toward his body at every instant.

As long as he was in this place, he could maintain Hell Monarch indefinitely!

No matter how crazily he used up his power, it still could not match the crazy speed at which it was being replenished.

The blood-colored energy storm which suddenly erupted from Yun Che’s body shocked the Three Yama Ancestors. Yan Wanhun’s body seemed to pause for an instant but Yun Che had now taken the opportunity to lunge at him, his fist aiming for Yan Wanhun’s head.

Bang!

Yan Wanhun had clearly attacked first, but he had ended up taking a punch from Yun Che because of that moment of hesitation.

Power that far exceeded his expectations rocked his body back, but he immediately let out a hoarse yell of rage. Dark explosions rocked the air in front of him, causing space to violently sink in.

The power of a Yama Ancestor was extremely terrifying. A muffled groan leaked from Yun Che’s lips as he was instantly hurt by Yan Wanhun’s wild attacks. An arrow of blood shot from his mouth as he tumbled through the air but Yan Wanhun was already rushing toward him like a ghostly shadow. He moved so fast that he left sonic booms trailing in his wake. As he darted toward Yun Che, he swiped out a clawed hand.

Riiiiip!

Three huge black scars of energy that seemed to stretch on forever rent the air. This terrifying attack seemed to have torn the entire world into four different pieces.

Pfffft!

Three deep grooves were carved into Yun Che’s body, causing bloody mist to explode out of it.

Bang!

Yun Che’s body smashed against the ground… But it did not split into four pieces like the Three Yama Ancestors thought it would. Instead, he immediately bounced back to his feet the moment he fell to the ground.

“Hssss!?” Yan Wanhun froze in midair, his widened ancient eyes could scarcely believe what they were seeing.

In the next instant, his deep gray pupils went completely wide.

When Yun Che stood up, the three bloody grooves on his body were so deep that they could see the bones that lay underneath. One of those wounds stretched all the way from his left eyebrow to the right side of his chest, it nearly reached the length of two meters.

This was the rending power of a Yama Ancestor! However, Yun Che had not been ripped apart. In fact, he still wore that cold smile on his face… While still smiling, he slowly stretched out a hand and gently wiped off a smear of blood from his face.

The darkness was howling and it was as if an infinite number of storms were gathering around Yun Che.

Within that bizarre storm, the frightening bloody grooves that had been torn into his body started to close up and heal at a frighteningly fast rate...

One breath passed… then two… and those originally garish and shocking grooves had become shallow wounds with a few traces of blood around them.

Three breaths passed… and the last bit of blood on his body had vanished as well.

Whether it was an external or internal injury… he had completely recovered from it.

Not even the tiniest scar remained.