Against the Gods (Web Novel)
chapter-1318

Yun Che’s chest heaved as he spoke with furrowed brows, “Why don’t you first tell me who exactly you are? And why exactly… are you acting like this towards me?”

He discovered that he was understanding Shen Xi less and less.

He was practically naked in front of her, as all of his secrets, all of his thoughts, and even things he had not detected about himself yet, were laid bare in front of her with a single word. Furthermore, even though she had chosen to reveal her true appearance to him, right now, Yun Che felt that the fog around her was growing denser and denser.

“Master, you… The words you just said, are they all true?” He Ling’s expression had changed completely, she felt as if she had heard the most unbelievable thing in her entire life.

Shen Xi was ever cool and graceful. She gently said, “If you have heard of my name ‘Shen Xi’, then you should also have heard of the name of the ‘Dragon Queen’. Yet it seems like you are unaware of this fact. In the eyes of the world, the ‘Dragon Queen Shen Xi’ is the complete title.”

“...” Yun Che’s expression and gaze violently changed at the same time, “You… are… the… Dragon Queen!?”

When he had heard from He Ling that the Dragon Monarch would visit the Forbidden Land of Samsara every month or two and that he was completely infatuated with Shen Xi… and that this was a fact that nearly everyone knew, the notion that “Shen Xi was the Dragon Queen” did flash in his mind, but that notion was completely nipped in the bud the very next instant.

But now that he had heard Shen Xi personally say those words, he was so shocked and alarmed that he still found himself unable to believe it. His head jerked up as he said, “That’s not right! That’s not possible! You clearly… You still had your vital yin, so how could you be the Dragon Queen?”

The Dragon Queen and Goddess, those two women who were famed in the God Realm for monopolizing all the pinnacles of beauty in the universe. Given the celestial beauty of Shen Xi’s face, if she were the Dragon Queen, she would definitely not be unworthy of that name. On the contrary, it would not be the least bit exaggerated to assume she was the Dragon Queen.

If the events of yesterday had not happened, he would definitely believe those words.

But, after the day and night that had just taken place… How could he believe that Shen Xi was actually the Dragon Queen!?

Everyone in the God Realm knew that the Dragon Queen was the queen of the dragon god race, the wife of the number one person in the Primal Chaos, the Dragon Monarch!

As she looked at Yun Che’s clearly contorted expression, He Ling timidly uttered, “Master, she… she… she is really the Dragon Queen.”

Yun Che, “...”

“There is no need for you to feel that it’s strange, and there is also no need for you to feel that you did anything wrong,” Shen Xi said in a soft and cottony voice. “The ‘Dragon Queen’ is indeed the title that the rest of the world has given me, but it is merely just a title. It does not signify that I am the queen of the dragon race and it means even less that I am the queen of the Dragon Monarch.”

“The ‘Dragon Queen’ that exists in the minds of the rest of the world is something that has never existed.”

“...” Yun Che was stunned for several breaths before he recalled that He Ling had said that Shen Xi was bound to this place for some reason and that she was unable to leave. He had started to make some conjectures about that, but upon recalling what he had done with her, he still felt his scalp go numb. “Exactly what kind of relationship… do you and the Dragon Monarch have? If… it isn’t what it looks like… then why are you called the ‘Dragon Queen’?”

Shen Xi did not try to hide anything, she merely said in a cool voice, “It was only by bestowing me the title of ‘Dragon Queen’ that he allowed me to stay in this place in peace and quiet for so many years. This could be considered a form of repayment to me and it is something I wished for. However, in my eyes, the Dragon Monarch, from the beginning until now, has always been a… junior.”

“Ju… nior?” This reply stunned both Yun Che and He Ling.

“Three hundred and fifty thousand years ago, when I met him for the first time, he was even younger than you are, he should have been no more than twenty years back then,” Shen Xi slowly recounted her tale. “At that time, he had been harmed by his own race and he was thrown into a barren wasteland. His entire body was crippled and he could not even see or speak, he merely waited for his death in despair.”

“At that time, the sight of him aroused my compassion, so I saved him and I used light profound energy to help him restore his eyes and his tongue, and I even helped rebuild his meridians and profound veins.”

She gave Yun Che a look before continuing, “The dragon is the ruler of all living creatures, so the dragon god race has always been the strongest and most sacred race in the God Realm. In the eyes of the world, they are proud creatures that possess an extremely strong sense of dignity and decorum, creatures who will never condescend themselves to partake in any despicable or repulsive acts. Yet they are unaware that the fights within the dragon race are perhaps even darker and more sinister than those of you humans, it is just that none of you see it, that’s all.”

Shen Xi’s words had indeed heavily toppled the knowledge Yun Che had of the dragon race. He had never expected that the monarch of the dragon race, a person whose tyrannical might cowed the rest of the universe, a person who had no equal in this universe, actually had such a tragic and terrible past… His entire body had been crippled and even his eyes and tongue had been destroyed. Just the thought of that alone sent a shiver down one’s spine.

“After experiencing that despair, his temperament and personality greatly changed. He, a person who had originally had no ambition, then possessed an extremely vigorous ambition, an ambition that had been birthed due to his hatred and resentment. He was also no longer merciful to his own race after that… and he climbed up step by step, until he finally became the Dragon Monarch.”

“That is also to say that without you, there wouldn’t be the current Dragon Monarch,” Yun Che mumbled as if he was talking to himself.

Shen Xi gave a faint shake of her head, “From the moment I rescued him, I sensed that he looked at me in a peculiar manner. Furthermore, this kind of gaze was one that I had seen far too often in my lifetime. I had originally thought that everything would slowly fade away as time went by, but after a few hundred years, a few thousand years, and afters tens of thousands of years, his feelings remained as they had been since the beginning. The day he finally became the Dragon Monarch, he told me that he had staked all he had to become the ruler of the dragon race just so he could be worthy of me… Even though he clearly knew that it was absolutely impossible for anything to happen between the two of us, he was also not willing to let it go.”

She gave a soft sigh before speaking, “The act of saving him all those years ago has also seemed to have harmed him just as much.”

For more than three hundred thousand years, she had been indifferent towards the feelings the Dragon Monarch had for her. In fact, she had never paid them any mind before… But now that Yun Che had appeared, she was left with no choice but to pay attention to this matter.

“...” Yun Che remained silent for a very long time.

Even though Shen Xi had made it short and sweet, it was enough for Yun Che to more or less understand the situation.

Given Shen Xi’s beauty and elegance, the number of admirers she had in the past was definitely no less than the number of admirers the Goddess currently had. However, after she had obtained the title of Dragon Queen and after this place had been made into a forbidden ground, there would no longer be anyone in the universe that could disturb her peace and quiet. This could be considered a form of repayment by the Dragon Monarch towards Shen Xi… Yet how did these actions also not contain the selfish motives and desires of the Dragon Monarch?

Even though the Dragon Monarch possessed ten thousand times more experience than he had, Yun Che was able to understand the strong dedication the Dragon Monarch had towards Shen Xi… Shen Xi had saved him when he had been the most helpless he had ever been in his life, had saved him when he had fallen into complete despair. This fact coupled with her elegant beauty, a beauty so dream-like that it practically seemed to be an illusion, had created this situation. Because when the light finally returned to his eyes, the scene that had unravelled before him had definitely been deeply carved into his soul, something that would never fade away from his memory and soul for the rest of eternity.

He was the Dragon Monarch, but in the end, he was still a mortal creature.

Because of Shen Xi, he had never truly stained any other woman for more than three hundred thousand years… At the very least, it was said that he had only had the “Dragon Queen” for his entire life. To be devoted to a single person to such an extent, it was indeed something very rarely seen in this world.

However, Shen Xi had never truly given any response or reply to the infatuation that the Dragon Monarch had harbored for her, for more than three hundred thousand years. Even when he had become the ruler of the dragon race, even when he had become the supreme ruler and the number one person in Primal Chaos, she still had not responded to those feelings...

Her completely intact vital yin was the best proof of all this.

Waves roared and crashed in Yun Che’s heart and he could not calm it down no matter what he tried.

Shen Xi was the Dragon Queen of the famed “Dragon Queen and Goddess”! Even though, the “Dragon Queen” was merely a hollow title that granted her many years of peace and tranquility, the only one who should know about this was her and the Dragon Monarch. But, in the eyes of the world, she was the queen of the dragon race… However, in a state of half-dazed stupor, he had actually had sex with this “Dragon Queen”!

What kind of power and status did the Dragon Monarch have? Yet despite all of this and the fact that he was crazily infatuated with Shen Xi, he had not even dared to expect or try to profane her in the slightest way for several hundred thousand years. Perhaps, in his eyes, Shen Xi was a simply a perfect and flawless dream… But if he found out that this “dream” had actually been stained by a junior who was wholly insignificant and inadequate compared to him… his reaction would simply be unimaginable.

At the same time, he was even less able to understand why Shen Xi, who was cool and indifferent to even someone like the Dragon Monarch, would behave in that way towards him. Those words that she had said, the gazes that she had shot him, those actions she had taken. In anyone else’s eyes, it would be something completely unbelievable and inexplicable… Could it be that he had been dreaming ever since he had entered the Forbidden Realm of Samsara and that all of this was not real?

Upon looking at Yun Che’s ever-changing expression, Shen Xi made a smile that was not a smile while saying, “Are you afraid now?”

Yun Che, “...”

“If you’re afraid, afraid to face the Dragon Monarch, then…” Shen Xi’s eyes drifted away from Yun Che and coolly looked into the distance, “You can take it that yesterday’s affairs did not ever happen. I can guarantee that I will definitely not let another person know about this after this. Furthermore, the words I said to you today will never be said to you ever again.”

Yun Che breathed in and out several times and his chest gradually stopped heaving, “You are the Dragon Queen, but you are not the Dragon Queen that everyone else thinks you are. That is also to say that I have not done anything wrong to the Dragon Monarch!”

Shen Xi said in a soft voice, “I, Shen Xi, do not belong to anyone, I only belong to myself. What I have done to you and what you have done to me is only between the two of us, so it is only natural that you have not wronged him in any way.”

“Then why do I have to be afraid, why wouldn’t I dare!?” Yun Che’s tone grew slightly more firm, but one could not call it resolute or hard either.

“...” Shen Xi’s gaze shifted back to him and she gave a small nod of her head, “You did not disappoint me entirely after all.”

“But you need to tell me one thing. What exactly is the reason… for you to behave in such a way towards me?” Yun Che stared straight at her and he did not know if it was because he could not avert his gaze or if he was trying to find something in those beautiful starry eyes.

Shen Xi shook her head, “I am unable to tell you that. I have my own selfish desires, but I want you to believe that I will never ever harm you.”

“Why are you unable to tell me?” Yun Che continued to ask.

“Because the current you is far too small and insignificant,” Shen Xi told him frankly. “The higher your level, the wider your vision. It is only as your power grows that you will have more options open to you. Given your current power and level, if I tell you everything, I can indeed solve your confusion. But at the same time, I will also be harming you.”

She avoided Yun Che’s gaze and her own eyes grew faintly misty, “I had originally thought that my future would be an empty void. During these years, the only thing I could do was to try and break the fetters that bound me to this place. After that, I would try to find a home that might never ever exist in this vast and starry universe… At least that was until you showed up.”

Yun Che, “Me?”

He Ling, “...Ah?”

“If you are unable to put down the doubts and suspicions in your heart, then you only need remember this one thing,” Shen Xi said softly, “Our destinies are intertwined.”

She had never previously thought that this man, whom Xia Qingyue had brought from the Eastern Divine Region all the way to the Western Divine Region, a man whom she had originally no desire to keep, but had only relented due to the tearful pleading of He Ling, was actually the person she thought that she would never be able to find for the rest of eternity.

Furthermore, he had appeared before her even before she was able to escape from her fetters.

Those soft and wispy words had undoubtedly deepened Yun Che’s suspicions and doubts. He said in a completely dazed and confused voice, “Other than the identities of Shen Xi and the Dragon Queen, who… else are you exactly?”

He had only been here for two months, and if he had not been brought to her by Xia Qingyue because he had been afflicted with the Brahma Soul Death-Wishing Mark, he would not even be aware of the existence of Shen Xi. “Our destinies are intertwined”, those words were something that he could not understand in the slightest, no matter how hard he tried.

“If there is a day that you can surpass the heights that the Dragon Monarch has scaled, then you will naturally know everything as well. What you can do and what you must do. It is only if you do this that you will never need to fear the covetous gazes of other people any longer. It is only then that you will also no longer need to be afraid of the slightest thing and truly face the Dragon Monarch with no fear or guilt.”

“As someone who bears the power of a Creation God and the…” Shen Xi’s voice suddenly came to a halt before she continued, “This is karma that you cannot escape from.”