Against the Gods (Web Novel)
chapter-1396

Chapter 1396 - Returning to Azure Cloud

Yun Che took out another jade bottle before looking at Cang Yue, “Now it’s your turn, Yue’er.”

“Ah?” Cang Yue exclaimed while staring at the jade bottle Yun Che was holding. She immediately guessed something and said, “Is it the same spiritual nectar as the one you used on Xin’er?”

“Mn!” Yun Che nodded, “You’ll have the strength of the divine way just like Xin’er. That means no one will be able to hurt you on this plane.”

“...” Cang Yue’s lips parted slightly before shaking her head with a smile, “I don’t need any profound strength so as long as you and my sisters are with me. I’m certain that this divine object is extremely precious, and I don’t think that you should be wasting it on me.”

Yun Che knew that she would reply this way. “I know that that you aren’t interested in the profound way, but you see, an increase in profound energy isn’t the only benefit of reaching the divine way. More importantly, it increases one’s lifespan to around ten thousand years or more.”

He looked at her with an apprehensive look on his face, “You… don’t mind accompanying me for the next ten thousand years to come, do you?”

“...” Cang Yue’s gaze trembled before she shot a look at Xiao Lingxi and the others.

“Xin’er and Yue’er’s portions aren’t the only ones I’ve prepared,” Yun Che produced yet another jade bottle in his hand, “This is Lingxi’s.”

“This is Yuechan’s.”

“This is Xue’er’s.”

“This is Ling’er’s.”

“This is Caiyi’s.”

“And this is Xian’er’s.”

“Ah?” Feng Xian’er was completely caught off guard by Yun Che’s final remark. Then, she took a small step backwards and stuttered in panic, “I… I have one too? N-no, you shouldn't, I’m just a… This is too precious, you can’t possibly waste it on someone like me.”

Yun Che beamed at her and said, “Relax, I know these items are heaven defying in this world, but it’s something that you can find anywhere in the God Realm. Back then, I drank this everyday like I was drinking water, and I still have plenty of them, so you don’t have to feel sorry at all. I reckon that it’ll be a real waste if I don’t use it on you, Xian’er.”

(He Ling: (╯﹏╰)b)

Feng Xian’er stopped talking and bowed her head just like that. She looked even more tense than ever before.

Cang Yue’s hesitation vanished immediately when she heard his reassurances. She smiled happily and said, “Very well… of course I’ll gladly accompany you for an eternity, husband.”

Although Yun Che still hadn’t recovered more than thirty percent of his strength, using light profound energy as an assist didn’t really constitute a burden for him.

After that, he helped Cang Yue drink the Divine Water of Life and Dragon Dawn Jade Nectar… then Chu Yuechan… then Xiao Lingxi… Feng Xue’er… Su Ling’er… Little Demon Empress… and finally, Feng Xian’er.

Everyone’s profound strength was increased to the Divine Origin Realm at once.

As for Feng Xue’er, she was already a divine way profound practitioner in the first place, so not only had she ascended all the way to the peak of the Divine Origin Realm, she was a hair away from reaching the Divine Soul Realm.

How best to describe the difference between planes?

In Blue Pole Star’s history, the first person to ever possess the power of the divine way was without a doubt Xuanyuan Wentian. To this end, he had spent innumerable years cultivating, plotting, scheming, and hiding until the time was right. He had even gone so far as to abandon his physical body, distort his soul, and shorten his lifespan to finally achieve the divine way… and even then, he was only able to become a half-step divine way profound practitioner.

But Yun Che had managed to produce seven divine way profound practitioners using a couple of spiritual nectars he had obtained from the God Realm in a single evening… and they were all full divine way profound practitioners no less!

If Xuanyuan Wentian was still alive today, he would’ve choked to death from excess fury.

Forget Xuanyuan Wentian… even the king realm denizens of the God Realm would’ve vomited all the blood in their body if they learned that Yun Che had spent eight whole drops of Divine Water of Life and Dragon Dawn Jade Nectar on eight lower realm mortals.

The Dragon God Realm especially would wish they could eat him alive.

Yun Che had spoken of the Divine Water of Life and the Dragon Dawn Jade Nectar like they were worthless in the God Realm, so the girls had no idea that the liquid they just drank was in fact the divine objects of divine objects even in the God Realm. It was something that even the sons and grandsons of god emperors had dreamed of possessing.

“There are nine more in here,” Yun Che took out all the jade bottles holding the Divine Water of Life and started calculating carefully, “One for father, one for mother, two for both my grandfathers, one for Yuanba, and let’s not forget about Frozen Cloud Asgard…”

“Master…” He Ling suddenly spoke up weakly in his mind, “It is true we still have a lot of Dragon Dawn Jade Nectar with us, but these nine drops are literally the last nine Divine Water of Life in the entire world. Are you sure you want to use it all on someone else?”

“Er… the last nine drops, you say?” Yun Che was caught off guard.

“It takes Master Shen Xi an average time of three hundred years to create one drop of Divine Water of Life, so the seventeen drops she gave me was everything she had. Also, improving one’s cultivation massively isn’t the only benefit the Divine Water of Life has, it can swiftly heal a person’s wounds and save their life in a pinch as well. Why don’t you save some for yourself just in case a situation comes up, master?”

“...” Yun Che pondered for a very long time before replying, “At my level, the Divine Water of Life really isn’t that effective on me anymore. I’d feel better if I use it on them though.”

He Ling had no choice but to give up after that.

Meanwhile, Yun Che was unconsciously cupping his chin while imagining Shen Xi’s impossibly beautiful figure in his head.

To think that she would give away every Divine Water of Life and Dragon Dawn Jade Nectar she had, not even counting the ones he had drunk while he was staying at the Forbidden Land of Samsara…

He certainly hadn’t expected her to be so generous with him.

On second thought she gave me her own person, so I guess it’s not that strange… Say, she couldn’t have fallen in love with me, could she?

The thought lasted for only an instant before he extinguished it completely.

After having spent some time with Shen Xi, he knew that she was way too detached to ever fall in love with him.

For the longest time, Yun Che had a feeling that Shen Xi was using him (literally and figuratively) to achieve a certain goal, but he wasn’t able to decipher the what or why of the matter. On the other hand, he hadn’t lost anything to her, and she hadn’t taken anything from him. In fact, she had saved his life and given him everything that was of value.

What in the world was she thinking...

It looked like he could only hear the answer from Shen Xi herself after he had returned to the God Realm.

…………

At Blue Wind Nation’s borders, a ray of white light poured down from the sky and swiftly calmed down all the violent auras that were growing increasingly out of control across the entire Wasteland of Death.

The beastial roars that had been resounding for days had grown still, and even the violent atmosphere that had persisted for the longest period of time had dissipated as if a storm had blown them all away.

“Thank goodness, Sister Cang Yue can finally be at ease,” Feng Xue’er exclaimed gladly while looking below her.

But Yun Che shook his head and said, “This peace won’t last too long. In fact, it may even get worse and worse.”

The worst case scenario he had imagined was that normal mortals and even profound practitioners would succumbing to the influence of the darkness profound energy. If that happened… he did not dare imagine what a world where every living being’s negative emotions were drawn out and amplified would turn into.

“I must find the source that caused all this.”

“Have you found the reason yet?” Feng Xue’er asked.

“No, not yet,” Yun Che turned to look towards the east, “But there is a place I must check first.”

When he had lost all of his powers, he was powerless to care about all of this. But things were different now that he had regained his powers.

Feng Xue’er followed his gaze and recalled something, “Do you mean… Azure Cloud Continent?”

“That’s right,” Yun Che nodded, “In fact, I’ll be heading over right now.”

“In that case I’ll come with you.”

“No need,” Yun Che replied before imagining the dark abyss in his head, “There is a very special pocket world that only I can go into. I’ll be fine on my own.”

Yun Che didn’t notice that a pair of icy eyes had been watching him in the distant skies while he was speaking with Feng Xue’er all this time. However, the light in her eyes hadn’t stopped trembling since the beginning.

It was Mu Xuanyin.

This wasn’t the first time she had come over like this.

When she had come to Blue Pole Star for the first time and saw Yun Che, alive but without his powers, she was determined not to return after going back to Snow Song Realm. She hadn’t allowed Mu Bingyun to visit Blue Pole Star either.

But after just three months, she had come to the Blue Pole Star again...

Every time, she would swear that this was the last visit, that she would never see him again and that she would forget about him once and for all… but her resolve would last at most three months before she lost control and secretly came to Blue Pole Star again, watching him from the distance.

It was almost as if she was possessed or something.

This time though, she discovered that Yun Che’s aura had completely changed.

He had actually regained his former strength!

She had no idea what had happened during the time she was gone, or how Yun Che had regained his powers.

She knew even less whether she should be glad or afraid for him. It was because him regaining his powers meant that he might be swallowed in the stream that was the God Realm again.

After parting ways with Feng Xue’er, Yun Che flew straight toward the east.

Although Yun Che wasn’t well versed in the laws of space, the space in the Blue Pole Star was so fragile that it was like a piece of thin paper that he could easily pierce with his strength. That was how he traveled to the Azure Cloud Continent at high speed.

All the while, he was followed by an undetectable figure in the sky.

The moment Yun Che had entered the Azure Cloud Continent, the scene that immediately entered his sight caused him to frown deeply.

He had lived on this continent for twenty seven years during his last lifetime. Although he no longer yearned for it like he used to, this continent still held a special place in his heart.

Azure Cloud Continent was a continent in Blue Pole Star just like the Profound Sky Continent. Although their total number of peak experts was less than the Profound Sky Continent’s, they basically possessed similar auras and elemental laws because they were all on the same plane.

However… everything had changed since he last remembered them.

His ears were filled with the crazed roars of profound beasts, each one more violent than the last. From time to time, the sound of profound explosions and shattered earth would reach his ears as well.

No matter where he looked with his eyes or spiritual perception, both profound beast and human territories were filled with violent and brutal auras. Every profound beast was acting like they had gone completely insane… Although this scene was extremely similar to the profound beast turmoil that broke out at the Profound Sky Continent and Illusory Demon Realm from time to time, the two disasters couldn’t be compared to each other at all.

It was because this turmoil and unrest was happening all across the Azure Cloud Continent. Worse, Yun Che could clearly sense a large amount of high level profound beasts, and even reclusive but exceptionally powerful profound beasts among the rioters.

Every time a profound beast at that level were to unleash their power, it could only result in terrible disaster.

He didn’t even need to think to know that the Azure Cloud Continent had completely devolved into a disaster zone where humans and profound beasts fought each other to their deaths. By now, countless lives must have already been lost to this senseless fighting.

The further Yun Che stretched his spiritual perception, the bigger his shock became. Very soon, a terrifying thought surfaced in his mind: if this situation were to be allowed to continue, then the Azure Cloud Continent's today may very well turn out to be the Profound Sky Continent and Illusory Demon Realm’s tomorrow.

Yun Che fell silent for a moment before he appeared at a place he was all too familiar with.

Cloud's End Cliff!

Standing at the edge of Cloud's End Cliff and staring at the black abyss that looked like the open maw of a devil beneath his feet, Yun Che frowned slightly before jumping into the darkness without any hesitation.

In the sky, Mu Xuanyin’s gaze abruptly tensed as she unconsciously reached out to him.

When she had first arrived at the Blue Pole Star, the black abyss’ unusual darkness aura had already caught her attention. After having probed the abyss herself, she quickly learned that it was hiding a most terrifying world of darkness… one that could threaten even a recovered Yun Che if he wasn’t careful.

Yun Che had vanished into the darkness immediately after leaping off Cloud’s End Cliff… A moment of hesitation later, Mu Xuanyin followed him into Cloud’s End Abyss while remaining concealed as well.

Unlike the last time, Yun Che didn’t fall into the abyss slowly or cautiously. He quickly appeared above the barrier that kept the world of darkness sealed, just in time to catch a blast of thick darkness aura straight to the face. It was enough to make him frown deeply.

Yun Che stopped right above the barrier and watched the world beneath him in silence.

An aura of darkness was rising to the surface like an invisible smoke.

He had no doubt that the darkness profound energy had originated from the darkness world sealed underneath.

The leakage hadn’t only happened recently. Many years ago, the barrier had already loosened up a little and caused some darkness profound energy to leak out… it was how Jasmine had discovered this darkness world in the first place.

However, it was clear that the amount of darkness profound energy that was leaking out now was far greater than it was in the past.

It made Yun Che felt both puzzled and worried.

There were two reasons behind his puzzlement:

One, the darkness world beneath him had very likely existed since the ancient Era of Gods. That meant that the barrier must have existed for at least a million years or more, so it was only to be expected that the barrier would eventually give way to the passage of time. However, considering how high level this barrier was, its failure should be an arduously slow and time-consuming process. The fact that it had only leaked a bit of devilish energy six years ago despite having existed for millions of years before was proof of that. However, it had only been six years since he last came here, so how and why had it faltered so quickly all of a sudden?

Two, the amount of devilish energy that was leaking out from the barrier wasn’t especially impressive, even though the barrier was ten times worse than he had remembered it to be. Maybe it was enough to affect the Azure Cloud Continent, but it still shouldn’t be widespread enough to affect somewhere as far as the Profound Sky Continent or Illusory Demon Realm, even assuming that it had been like this since six years ago.

Moreover, the level of devilish energy in this world wasn’t nearly high enough to escape his detection.