Against the Gods (Web Novel)
chapter-1430

Chapter 1430 - Having the Entire World as Your Enemy

When he arrived at the Ice Phoenix Sacred Hall, Yun Che did not immediately go to find Mu Xuanyin. He stood amidst the flying snow as he raised his head towards the sky. His heart felt as if it was being weighed down by a great weight and he was not able to breathe for a long while.

The calmness and indifference that he had when he had faced Huo Poyun were no longer present.

His life in the Azure Cloud Continent had greatly influenced his nature and temperament. Because of Su Ling’er’s death, he was willing to cherish and protect the women who were good to him at all costs. It was also because he had been enemies with the entire world in that life that it was extremely rare for him to truly accept and trust a person. As a result, he had very few friends.

In the lower realms, the only people he truly regarded as friends were Xia Yuanba and Ling Jie.

In the God Realm, the only person was Huo Poyun.

The good feelings he had for Huo Poyun were initially because of his Golden Crow legacy… This was because the Golden Crow Divine Spirit had done him many great favors in the past and had done so even to the point of dissipating itself. Yet he had been unable to repay a single one of them. On the other hand, if one’s character was dishonorable, it would definitely not be possible to obtain the God Realm’s Golden Crow Divine Spirit’s complete inheritance.

As a result, Huo Poyun was the only person Yun Che did not guard against initially after he had entered the God Realm.

They got to know each other through battle and from the Snow Song Realm to the Flame God Realm, they had always been appreciative of the other’s talent and had continued to help one another. After that, they both entered the Eternal Heaven Realm, and after that...

Yun Che shook his head several times as he forced himself to not think about those things anymore.

He had felt Huo Poyun’s regret and remorse, he had personally witnessed Huo Poyun throwing himself in front of him at the last possible moment when he faced Luo Guxie’s power. He also believed that even though Huo Poyun had changed greatly, his base character still had not changed in the end… However, what was done was done. There was no way to turn back, no way to correct it.

Whether he had collapsed or he had lost his mind, when he had sent a sound transmission to Luo Changsheng… Huo Poyun, at the very least, had wanted him to die.

This was a scar that could never be erased.

It seemed as if Yun Che’s reaction to all of this had been very mild… But in reality, the impact this series of events had on Yun Che was far greater than what it looked like on the surface.

Mu Feixue drew near to him on silent footsteps. Upon seeing Yun Che’s rather dispirited look, her lips lightly moved but in the end, she did not ask him anything. She merely said in a mild tone, “Senior Brother Yun, Master is waiting for you.”

“...Eh, I got it.” Yun Che came back to his senses as he gave a small nod of his head. He took two steps forward before he suddenly stopped and said to Mu Feixue, “Junior Sister Feixue, you…”

Mu Feixue, “?”

“...” Yun Che’s stopped speaking and after his expression went through a series of changes, he instead smiled as he shook his head and said, “It’s nothing, I’ll go see Master now.”

Mu Feixue stood in place as she silently watched his back grow small in the distance. As her eyes blurred, she suddenly recalled the words that Mu Bingyun had said to her once more...

As he expelled a mouthful of turbid energy, Yun Che steeled his heart and stepped into the Ice Phoenix Sacred Hall. After that, he arrived in front of Mu Xuanyin and said, “Master.”

Mu Xuanyin’s heart was like a clear mirror but she did not ask about the matter concerning Huo Poyun. Instead, she directly said, “Just now you asked me about how Xia Qingyue became the Moon God Emperor. But before I tell you all the answers, you better prepare yourself first and not let me see an overly ugly scene.”

“...” Upon hearing Mu Xuanyin’s words, Yun Che’s heartstrings could not help but tighten up as he asked, “So what exactly did happen?”

“The previous Moon God Emperor, Yue Wuya, died three years ago.” Mu Xuanyin calmly pronounced a fact that was known to the entire God Realm.

“He’s… dead?” Even though he had a faint feeling that this had happened, a great shock ran through Yun Che’s heart upon hearing it from Mu Xuanyin herself. He asked, “How did he die? Does a power that can kill a god emperor truly exist in this universe?”

Back then, Xia Qingyue had told him when they were aboard the Vanishing Moon Celestial Palace that Yue Wuya had received a heavenly prophecy telling him that he was sure to die within five years. The wedding that was meant to trick everyone under heaven was one of the arrangements he had made and it was part of his final wishes… Even though Yue Wuya placed a great amount of faith in this prophecy, Yun Che had thumbed his nose at it.

But he had actually really died!

“It was not only Yue Wuya.” Mu Xuanyin continued, “On the same day, many Star Gods, Moon Gods, Guardians, and Brahma Kings fell one after the other. Even the Star God Emperor, Eternal Heaven God Emperor, and the Brahma Heaven God Emperor sustained serious injuries. The events of that day are also the reason why the Eternal Heaven God Emperor was being tormented by devilish energy.”

Yun Che was completely dumbstruck by her words.

“But the one who suffered most terribly was the Star God Realm itself. Nearly the entire realm was destroyed and the remaining Star Gods and elders are all presently residing in their auxiliary star realms. In other words, the current Star God Realm could be said to be alive in name only.”

“Does such a power… truly exist in this universe?” Every single word that rang in Yun Che’s ear filled him with great shock. If he had not heard these words from Mu Xuanyin herself, he definitely would not be able to bring himself to believe them. He asked, “Could it have been something to do with the crimson calamity?”

“No, it had nothing to do with the crimson calamity at all,” Mu Xuanyin said as she stared straight at him. “It actually has something to do with you.”

“... Me?” Yun Che pointed a finger at himself, a stunned expression on his face.

Even if he had a hundred more brains, he would not be able to think of how this outrageous and unimaginable event had anything to do with him.

“Do you know the identity of the culprit who destroyed the Star God Realm, killed the Moon God Emperor, heavily wounded the other three god emperors, and killed a several Moon Gods and Star Gods?”

“The Eternal Heaven God Emperor seemed to have mentioned it before. He said that the devilish energy that was circulating in his body had come from the… ‘Evil Infant’?” Yun Che said as he thought about it.

“And do you know who this ‘Evil Infant’ is?”

“...” Yun Che shook his head as he said, “They possess such dreadful power and they are using darkness profound energy at that. Could it be that an extremely dreadful devil suddenly emerged out of the Northern Divine Region?”

“No, it has nothing to do with the Northern Divine Region,” Mu Xuanyin said as her voice grew deeper. “When you hear the words Evil Infant, what do you think of?”

Evil Infant… Yun Che’s brows furrowed as he pondered the question. After that, a terrifying name suddenly flashed through his mind as he blurted out, “The Evil Infant's Wheel of Myriad Tribulations!?”

No matter how little knowledge he had, there was no way he would not know the name of the world-destroying devil wheel.

“You’re exactly right,” Mu Xuanyin said as her eyes narrowed slightly. It was as if she was trying to see something from the look in his eyes. She continued, “What killed the Moon God Emperor, destroyed the Star God Realm, and cast a dreadful shadow over the entire Eastern Divine Region was the power of the Evil Infant's Wheel of Myriad Tribulations. Moreover, the person who possesses the Evil Infant's Wheel of Myriad Tribulations will naturally also become the embodiment of the ‘Evil Infant’. However, from the way you look, it really seems like you are completely in the dark about this.”

Yun Che shook his head in bewilderment… He was undoubtedly the person who was closest to Jasmine, the person who had spent the most time with Jasmine… But, he was indeed completely unaware of the fact that Jasmine possessed the Evil Infant's Wheel of Myriad Tribulations.

Jasmine had never told him and had never intended to let anyone find out in the first place.

“Since this is the case, then let me tell you the frank truth,” Mu Xuanyin said without elaborating any further. “The one who controls the Evil Infant’s Wheel of Myriad Tribulation, the ‘Evil Infant’ that the Eternal Heaven God Emperor spoke of, is precisely the Heavenly Slaughter Star God!”

Those four earth-shattering words made Yun Che feel as if he had been struck directly in the face by a heavy hammer. His eyes instantly widened and he was left completely stunned for two full breaths before he asked a question that would sound ridiculous to anyone else, “Which… Heavenly Slaughter Star God?”

“There’s no need for any self-denial or doubt, it is precisely the person that has appeared in your mind’s eye, that person that you had long ago determined was dead.”

Yun Che, “...”

As she looked at Yun Che’s face, a face that had become completely expressionless, Mu Xuanyin already knew what he was thinking without even having to try. She continued, “She did not die three years ago. Instead, she awakened the Evil Infant’s Wheel of Myriad Tribulations that had been in her possession after your death, transforming into the Evil Infant, and burying the Star God Realm which sought to take her life in a hell of destruction!”

“...” Yun Che simply stood there dumbly and he felt as if millions of gongs and thunderclaps were going off in his head. He had practically been robbed of the ability to think… He was in this condition for a long time and it was only a full ten breaths later that he finally managed to speak with much difficulty, “Jasmine, she… she… she… is… still… alive?”

He had croaked out those words with incredible difficulty and something seemed to be flashing through his eyes… It was as if he was sleep talking.

What Evil Infant, what Star God Realm, all of this wasn’t important anymore… The only piece of news that was crazily churning in his mind was that… Jasmine was not dead...

When he had followed Mu Bingyun to the God Realm all those years ago, everyone close to him had known that he was going to the God Realm to find Jasmine. But during the three years after he had returned to the lower realms, besides the time when he had reunited with Chu Yuechan, he had never mentioned anything about Jasmine even once...

That was because it was a name he did not dare to touch again.

It was akin to pricking the innermost parts of his soul; even the slightest of touches felt like a thorn prick that was so painful that he wished for death instead.

This was a thorn that he never wished to pull out… Even if it was ten or even a hundred times more painful.

Even though he had died before Jasmine, and as a result, he had not witnessed the “sacrificial ceremony” being carried out or the scene of Jasmine and Caizhi dying, in his mind, Jasmine’s and Caizhi’s deaths had been a foregone conclusion… A barrier and ceremony that had been formed by the strongest powers in the Star God Realm, there was no way any power could have changed the outcome of that situation.

There wasn’t even the slightest possibility.

“She’s still alive… She’s still alive… She’s still alive…” Yun Che’s pupils trembled and the corner of his mouth twitched. He was simply completely dispirited and lost at one moment and he seemed to be in a complete fluster the next. After that, he cried out involuntarily, “Jasmine, is she really still alive!?”

As she observed that extremely unsightly reaction of his, Mu Xuanyin’s brow furrowed. She was just about to reprimand him, but before the words even left her lips, she felt an inexplicable pain in her heart. In the end, she did not scold him and on the contrary, her voice had grown slightly softer when she finally spoke, “That’s right, she’s still alive.”

As he clearly heard Mu Xuanyin’s confirmation, Yun Che’s body swayed, and as his body rocked backwards, he nearly fell to the ground. He raised a hand and fiercely gripped his own skull. The sensations of pain that were coming from his tightening fingers clearly told him that he was not dreaming.

“Jasmine is still alive… Jasmine… He… Hehe… Ah… Haha… Hahahaha…” he muttered to himself as he shook his head and giggled inanely, “Thats right… she’s definitely still alive… Surely the heavens would not be so cruel to her… Even someone like me who deserves to go to hell is still alive… I should have long realized that she was definitely still alive…”

Anybody would know what the Heavenly Slaughter Star God meant to Yun Che just by seeing his reaction at this moment. Mu Xuanyin coldly said, “So now that you know she is still alive, what are you going to do?”

Yun Che slowly raised his head as he regulated his terribly disordered breathing and emotions. He strove to calm himself down but all of the blood in his body was still surging in an incomparably crazy manner, “Master, where is she… right now?”

“Nobody knows where she is,” Mu Xuanyin said. “However, there are rumors that say that it is most likely that she is in the God Realm of Absolute Beginning.”

“The God Realm of Absolute Beginning…” Yun Che softly breathed out those words. That was a name that had left an extremely deep shadow in his soul. Because it was in that place where Qianye Ying’er had afflicted him with the Braham Soul Death-Wishing Mark.

“Even if you knew where she is, what can you do about it? Could it be that you’re prepared to go and look for her?” Mu Xuanyin’s voice grew cold as a formless cold energy encased Yun Che, freezing his frenzied aura. His mind also became much clearer after that. She continued, “At the same time as you process that she’s still alive, you better use your brain to think about what her current situation is!”

Yun Che’s gaze froze for a moment but after that, he shook his head and said, “It’s fine. To me, as long as she is still alive, then that is already the best news that I could have heard. Everything else is unimportant…”

“How naive!” Mu Xuanyin said with a cold snort, “Right now, she isn’t considered the Heavenly Slaughter Star God in the eyes of the world anymore, she’s thought of as the Evil Infant!”

“The Evil Infant's Wheel of Myriad Tribulations is the world-destroying devil wheel and the Evil Infant is the most dreadful world-destroying devil spirit that exists in this universe. It was also the one that caused the end of the Era of the Gods! On the very first day the ‘Evil Infant’ re-emerged, it killed a god emperor and destroyed a king realm. Can you imagine just how dark and dreadful a shadow it casts on the entire God Realm!?”

Yun Che, “....”

“The God Realm is most repulsed by darkness profound energy and the power of the Evil Infant is the ultimate form of darkness profound energy. Coupled with the dark and dreadful shadow she cast over the current universe, every day that she is still alive is a day that all of the divine regions can’t rest easy. During the past three years, all of the king realms in the three divine regions have been mobilized and they have even called on the upper, middle and lower star realms to comb through different star regions. They did not even hesitate to extend the parameters of their search to the lower realms! All of this was for the sake of catching the Evil Infant’s tail. Once they find her, they will mobilize in force and seek to root out and eradicate the Evil Infant.”

“In other words, right now, she is enemies with the entire world! Do you understand the meaning of these words?”