Against the Gods (Web Novel)
chapter-1379

When Xiao Lingxi had translated the World-Defying Heavenly Manual for him word for word back then, he had truly felt like he was listening to some heavenly tome being read out loud; he had not understood half of what he had heard. It was only those few instants when he felt his soul stir lightly which caused him to start to suspect that this was possibly a profound formula rather than some scripture.

When it came to the comprehension of the profound way, if he claimed he was the best, no one in this world would dare to claim he was second best instead. His comprehension could be said to be so strong that it scared even him. From the Yun Family’s Purple Cloud Art to the World Ode of the Phoenix and the Golden Crow Record of the Burning World, profound arts that had been left behind by a True God…

Other people would need an untold number of years worth of accumulation and comprehension, along with some luck, before they could enter the state of enlightenment for even just an instant. However, Yun Che just needed to take a few glances at a profound formula and he would be able to directly sink into that state… Everyone who had witnessed this before, Jasmine, Xia Qingyue, Yun Qinghong, Mu Xuanyin, Caizhi, and Shen Xi… There was not a single one of them who had not been deeply astonished by this.

It could basically be said that there was no profound art that he could not cultivate, it was only a matter of Yun Che’s choice.

In the past, Jasmine had even said something to him in an extremely strange tone of voice: Even the ancient Evil God was not this capable.

There was only one exception… and that was the scripture of the World-Defying Heavenly Manual that Xiao Lingxi had translated for him, something that he had also memorized by heart. However, he could not make heads or tails of the thing.

As a result, he was even more convinced that this was truly only an obscure and hard to understand scripture and he had not paid any attention to it over the past few years.

But it was on this very day that this scripture, which he had very nearly forgotten, brought him to an incomparably bizarre world.

Enlightenment. A moment in the profound way that was extremely rare and precious, a moment that a profound practitioner might not even enter in a thousand years. Yet Yun Che had entered this realm of enlightenment many times in his life.

When he forcefully cultivated the World Ode of the Phoenix in the past, he felt as if his heart and soul had entered a world of fire, and he had been able to sense the laws of fire unique to the Phoenix with an incomparable clarity.

When he had been comprehending the “Frozen End Divine Art”, it felt as if he had been plunged into an icy hell and every corner of his soul and his profound veins had been flooded with extremely high level laws of ice...

When he was comprehending the Golden Crow’s Record of the Burning World, there was a gigantic and tyrannically powerful ancient Golden Crow flying around in his world, a Golden Crow which rained down apocalyptic fires on the rest of the world...

The realm of enlightenment for every single profound art was a world of laws and principles which one’s heart and soul would sink into. It was also a precious moment when one could truly come into contact with the core laws and principles of said profound art… A world of flames, a world of lightning, a world of swords, a world of destruction...

But at this very moment, the world that Yun Che’s heart and soul had sunk into was actually... a world of 【nothingness】.

This world was a sea of darkness… No, a feeling that sprang out of nowhere, a feeling that could not be denied, told him that this was not darkness. Instead, it was the completely empty “void”. There were no living beings, no dead beings, no sound, and there was even no time or space.

He could not sense the existence of anything else. In fact, he could not even sense his own existence.

Where is this place…?

It seemed as if this place only had eternal darkness, eternal emptiness, eternal silence, and he stood at the very center of this empty world. He did not know where he was, he did not know where he was going, and he did not know how he could leave.

But the good thing was that his will still remained and he could still think.

What exactly is going on? How was I suddenly thrust into such a world? Could it be that this is an empty hole inside my soul?

All of the sudden, a flash of light appeared in this empty world.

It was the figure of a person, a figure that seemed as distant as the horizons but also seemed to be close enough to touch. The figure was as illusory as a dream, as swiftly fleeting as mist. But from that indistinct outline, he could vaguely make out that this was the figure of a woman. Moreover, it seemed to be a completely naked woman...

Who are you… Where is this place...

He wanted to ask those questions but he could not make a sound.

But at this moment, a woman’s voice rang out in this world that had been completely empty:

“This place is the beginning of the primordial universe, the starting point of the Primal Chaos, and it is also the origin of all the laws and principles of the universe.”

He was unable to describe just what kind of voice it was. It was a woman’s voice and it was very soft and gentle, every syllable spoken by this voice would be able to instantly capture the soul of any living being. It sounded so good that it left one unable to believe that such a voice actually existed in this word… it should not exist even in a dream or the celestial realm...

Who… are… you… He desperately tried to release his will. He could sense that she was able to read his thoughts.

But she did not reply and every corner of Yun Che’s soul was once again engulfed by that terrifying beautiful voice...

“The Law of Water, the Law of Fire, the Law of Wind, the Law of Lightning, the Law of Earth… These are the five most basic elemental laws of the Primal Chaos Realm.”

“The Law of Light (Life), the Law of Darkness (Death), these are the high grade elemental laws which stand above the five basic elemental laws.”

“The Law of Space (Dimension), the Law of Time (Reincarnation), these are the supreme laws of creation which stand above the elemental laws.”

“And the origin of all of these laws, the law which stands above the supreme laws… 【The Law of Nothingness】.”

“...” Yun Che felt as if he was listening to some arcane heavenly tome.

“Having experienced life and death, having stepped across the dimensions and reincarnation itself, there is finally a living creature who has come into contact with the Law of Nothingness that even the Creation Gods themselves have never come into contact with before.”

Yun Che: Law of… Nothingness?

“Regarding the you who is able to come into contact with the Law of Nothingness, I am already unable to see your destiny clearly. Go and find the other two parts of the World-Defying Heavenly Manual, I eagerly await the day that I am… 【truly】 able to meet with you.”

WAAAH——

The figure of light faded away and the empty world in front of him suddenly vanished without a sound. The anxious and concerned faces of Xiao Lingxi, Su Linger, and the rest of them suddenly materialized in Yun Che’s vision.

When Yun Che’s eyes regained their focus, Feng Xue’er crowed in delight, “Big Brother Yun, you’re finally awake.”

Yun Che shook his head, his expression dazed.

“What exactly happened just now?” Su Ling’er asked. “Just now, it looked as if you had suddenly entered a state of enlightenment, but…”

Enlightenment… Yun Che’s eyebrows drew back as he grimaced.

The stillness of his heart and soul that he had just experienced had indeed been the realm of enlightenment.

He had suddenly entered the realm of enlightenment because of the verses from the World-Defying Heavenly Manual...

But, he clearly no longer had any profound strength, and even his profound veins were in a state of death, so how could “enlightenment” occur? Furthermore, when he still had his profound strength back then, he had not gained anything from these verses, but now that he had lost all of his strength… he could suddenly enter a state of enlightenment?

“The Law of… Nothingness…” Yun Che unconsciously muttered those words under his breath

“The Law of Nothingness?” Feng Xue’er and the rest were puzzled by those words. They did not know what these words meant nor had they ever heard these words before.

Yun Che raised his head and finally came back to his senses. Upon seeing that all the girls around him wore worried looks on their faces, he hurriedly smiled while he comforted them, “Nothing’s wrong, I probably did indeed enter a state that was not much different from enlightenment just now. It was due to a profound formula that I read many years ago. I was not able to understand it back then, but for some odd reason, I was suddenly able to comprehend it.”

“Then that’s fine,” Xiao Lingxi finally managed to breathe a sigh of relief as she gently stroked his chest.

Feng Xue’er nodded her head but her phoenix brows were faintly knitted… She was not Xiao Lingxi, whose understanding of the profound way was very shallow. Yun Che’s words went against the most basic logic of the profound way. Enlightenment of the profound way… If it was not in the profound way, then where was this enlightenment coming from?

However, since Yun Che had already said such a thing, she would naturally not pursue it.

“Big Brother Yun Che, go and rest for a while first. After that, I will give your body a proper inspection. If I don’t, all of them won’t be able to stop worrying,” Su Ling’er said with a faint smile.

“Uh… Alright.”

Yun Che returned to his room and lay on his bed. Su Ling’er knelt by his side, her hands gently massaging his entire body… He closed his eyes and in that silence, those bizarre verses and that voice which came from that empty world continued to resound in his mind without ceasing.

The laws of space and time were the highest level of laws known to the profound way. This was not limited only to the modern era. Even in the ancient Era of the Gods, these two laws were still the highest laws known to the universe. This was especially true of the latter law and the number of True Gods who could even slightly control the laws of time could be counted on one’s fingers.

But in that empty world, that ethereal and illusory female voice had spoken of a Law of “Nothingness”.

She had said it was a law higher than the Law of Space and the Law of Time… She had said it was the origin of all laws and principles that governed the universe?

If anyone had said this sort of thing, the people who heard it would immediately treat it as complete bullshit… But the voice that existed in that empty world actually had some sort of strange bewitching quality to it, and it left him completely trusting her words, or perhaps it would be better to say that he felt as if he was being compelled to trust her words.

Every single word and sentence she had spoken seemed to have been transformed into invisible brands which were deeply carved into his soul, brands that he could not resist or erase. They had become part of the way he perceived and conceived the world in the most basic and fundamental fashion. It was on the level of basic concepts like “I am a man” and “my fingers can bend”.

Having experienced life and death… Having stepped across the dimensions and reincarnation itself...

The Law of Nothingness...

The… Law… Of… Nothingness...

An incomparably vague and fuzzy feeling appeared in his mind, and no matter how hard he tried to focus his mind or concentrate, he could not think clearly. It seemed as if it was just right in front of him, but no matter how hard he tried to stretch out his hand, he was unable to touch it.

The Law of Nothingness…. What exactly was it?

That’s right, that voice said that the World-Defying Heavenly Manual was comprised of three parts. He had probably obtained only one of those parts and if he was able to obtain the other two, would it be possible for him to glimpse at what the “Law of Nothingness” truly was?

Wait a minute! And who… was she exactly?

Why did she say that she looked forward to meeting me? Was she not simply a soul sound in that empty world… and that she actually still existed in this universe?

Why was I able to enter the realm of enlightenment of the World-Defying Heavenly Manual when I clearly do not have any profound strength anymore?

Yun Che closed his eyes, his mind filled with an endless amount of confusion and an endless amount of questions… While in deep thought, he had unwittingly fallen asleep.

…………

Perhaps it was because that bizarre realm of enlightenment had taxed the mental fortitude of the current Yun Che far too intensely, but Yun Che slept really deeply this time around. By the time he woke up, the sky had already gone dark. He sat up from his bed and stretched lazily. After that, he immediately felt bright and refreshed.

At this moment, the room door was lightly pushed open and Xiao Lingxi entered with gentle steps. She was carrying the outer garments that had been washed for Yun Che. When her beautiful eyes alighted on the Yun Che who had gotten up, they instantly brightened, “Little Che, you’ve actually already awake.”

“Mn, I just woke up,” Yun Che got off the bed and looked at Xiao Lingxi. Su Ling’er’s words immediately flashed through his mind and his gaze grew somewhat heated. At this moment, an urge that he did not want to endure surged up in his body, a body that had not partaken in any carnal activity for close to sixteen hours. He suddenly lunged forward and as Xiao Lingxi let out a startled cry, he pressed her against the room door that had just been closed.

Yun Che’s body was tightly pressed against her soft bosom and his face had also very nearly touched her jade mien. She could clearly feel his hot breath against her face. In this moment, Xiao Lingxi’s heart had been thrown into complete disarray as she said in a timid voice, “Little Che, you… Oomph!”

Just as the words left Xiao Lingxi’s mouth, her fragrant lips were roughly kissed by Yun Che. All of the sounds she was making immediately dissolved into powerless whimpers. After that, she let out another startled cry, but she had already been picked up at the waist by Yun Che, who then proceeded to push her down on the bed.