Against the Gods (Web Novel)
chapter-1722

The northern border of the Eastern Divine Region.

When the Voice of Eternal Heaven started to ring in the air, the faces of Zhou Xuzi and everyone else from the Eternal Heaven God Realm dramatically changed as bewilderment appeared in their eyes.

“Yun… Che!” Zhou Xuzi turned his head towards the sky, a sinister look flashing across his face.

He would never forget Yun Che’s voice, even if he died!

However, deep panic, shock, and fear appeared on his face after that.

That was clearly the Voice of Eternal Heaven, something that could only be released by the Eternal Heaven Bell!

This meant that Yun Che was currently in the Eternal Heaven Realm… and the Eternal Heaven Bell was located in its very heart.

“Royal father! This sounds like the Voice of Eternal Heaven!” Zhou Qingfeng said in a heavy voice. “Could it be…”

“Wha… What is going on?” The Guardians who were with him raised their heads to look towards the heavens. For a moment, they could scarcely even believe their own ears.

At this time, the sound transmission jades of Zhou Xuzi and all of the Guardians started flashing and buzzing with incredible intensity. Hoarse, trembling voices filled with fear and panic started crazily flooding through them.

“Royal father, devil people have invaded! We don’t know how they appeared inside our realm… but royal father, you need to hurry back! You need to hurry back!!”

“My lord, three incredibly frightening monsters have appeared in the realm. All of our main profound formations have been destroyed. Also… what… what is that… red profound ark… AAAAHHH!”

“My lord, our Eternal Heaven is under attack! Swiftly return to help us!”

………………..

As one of the king realms of the Eastern Divine Region, they were a power that stood at the pinnacle of the current era. They did not fear any enemy and no one had ever dared to create trouble in their realm.

However, the sound transmissions that were bombarding them now tore at their hearts and minds. Every word filled Zhou Xuzi with cold dread.

The Eternal Heaven God Realm was always surrounded by an isolation barrier and if they truly met with any colossal danger, they could activate a barrier that was practically indestructible, one that was on par with the “Absolute Star Soul Barrier”.

However, as those witlessly terrified voices reverberated in his mind… he could scarcely believe, could not even imagine, what sort of frightening situation had suddenly confronted them.

It was also at this moment that the sound transmission jades of all the gathered higher realm kings started flashing like mad… Their expressions started changing and each was uglier than the last. Fear and panic started to appear in their eyes, and it was as if all of them had been plunged into a nightmare.

“Sect Master! Devil people have invaded… We’re currently surrounded by them!”

“Royal father! You need to return as quickly as you can… These devils are endless and some of them are even Divine Masters! Our sect protection barrier is about to break!”

“Sect Master! We are facing a countless number of devil people… The Ninth Elder has already…. Ah! Young Master! Young Master…. UWAAAAH!!”

Their ears were ringing with the news that their star realms, their sects, were being besieged… Miserable wails and the booming sound of energy exploding filled these short sound transmission and it was as if they were seeing a literal sea of blood spread out in front of them.

These one hundred and forty-three realm kings had responded to the call of the Eternal Heaven God Realm, and they had even brought all of their realm’s elite forces together with them!

They had come to the northern border to encircle and exterminate all devils. However, devil people had now appeared in the southern territories and started to attack their undefended homes.

Furthermore, the devil people who were attacking their homes were far more frightening in both power and numbers.

They were stunned by these developments. Blood started draining from their faces as their bodies trembled violently… They could not believe what was happening. Why and how had the devils appear in the southern territories?

All the news, all their senses, told them that the devils had been running wild in the northern territories. Furthermore, the number of devil people far exceeded their wildest estimations.

Just how many devil people had the Northern Divine Region mobilized! Just how had they appeared in the southern territories!?

Zhou Xuzi’s entire body went cold. He stared at Chi Wuyao and his voice trembled as he spoke. “What a great Devil Queen! What a great Northern Divine Region!”

“Eternal Heaven God Emperor!!”

Before Zhou Xuzi had even finished speaking, a higher realm king yelled at him in a hoarse voice. He had practically scrambled to Zhou Xuzi and his face was warped as he yelled at him in a hoarse voice, “Hurry! The grand teleportation formation… Hurry up and activate the grand teleportation formation! My sect is under siege and I need to go back! I NEED TO GO BACK!”

His hoarse, deafening roar startled and roused everyone, as if waking them up from a dream. None of the higher realm kings could even be bothered with the Devil Queen of the North at this moment. All of them rushed towards Zhou Xuzi as their eyes bulged out in extreme shock and fear. They started to yell and beg Zhou Xuzi in extremely hoarse voices.

“Hurry! The teleportation formation… Where is the teleportation formation!”

“If I don’t go back now, my sect is finished! The leader of the devils who are attacking my sect is very likely a level five Divine Master or stronger! Eternal Heaven God Emperor! ETERNAL HEAVEN GOD EMPEROR!!”

Boom!

An energy wave exploded outwards. Under the power of the Guardians, all of the higher realm kings that were rushing toward Zhou Xuzi were fiercely shoved backwards. Zhou Xuzi sucked in a deep breath as he strove to compose himself. His voice was heavy and laced with pain as he said, “The grand dimensional formation’s foundation in the Eternal Heaven God Realm has been destroyed. We… were tricked by these devils.”

The foundation of their formation had been destroyed and the Great Void Cauldron had fallen into Yun Che’s hands. Even if Zhou Xuzi and the six Guardians who had accompanied him had the power to traverse the heavens, there was no way they could build a dimensional formation that could connect the north and the south of the Eastern Divine Region in such a short amount of time.

“Aiyah, tricked? You’re making it sound really awful,” Chi Wuyao said in a cheery voice. “The smart aleck who brought all of them here wasn’t this queen, you know. It was you, Eternal Heaven God Emperor. But now you want to blame little old me? How shameless.”

Chi Wuyao’s words hit Zhou Xuzi like a bucket of soul-piercingly cold water.

The sound transmission continued to ring in his ear, each voice was more shrill and terrified than the last, and he felt as if countless blades were being plunged into his heart.

“Eternal Heaven God Emperor, we all came here on your…” A higher realm king was on the verge of tearing his scalp open. His eyes were swimming with panic and confusion and he immediately came to his senses. No matter how furious or resentful he was, the person he was speaking to was the Eternal Heaven God Emperor. So how could he curse him? How would he even dare to curse him?

He suddenly sprang to his feet and rushed toward the south as he roared in a hoarse voice, “Go! LET’S GO!!”

Now that one higher realm king had already spoken up, what did the rest of them have to wait for?

After a moment, countless profound auras erupted at full force. The strong individuals who had crossed half a divine region to come assemble here crazily surged toward the south—the direction in which their star realms lay.

None of them even bothered to bid the Zhou Xuzi farewell, much less hesitate. What devil people? What Devil Queen of the North? They could not even be bothered about those things right now.

Their star realms, their sects, the foundations of their ancestors, their wives and children… At this moment, they were being assailed by an incredibly fearsome devilish calamity!

The only thing they could do was to return home as fast as they could! They hated that they could not burn their blood essence to increase their speed by even a little bit.

Zhou Xuzi had completely lost control of the situation. Even the dignified authority of the Eternal Heaven God Realm was completely useless under such circumstances. Zhou Qingfeng was also urging his father anxiously. “Royal father, we need to get back as fast as possible. Those invading devil people seem to be far more fearsome than we have even dreamed of. If we don’t… If we don’t, it really might be too late!”

“...” Zhou Xuzi circulated profound energy through his body as he tried his best to maintain his composure, but his chest was already violently heaving and that bone-penetrating chill had long since spread from his heart to his entire body.

Wails of despair actually started to ring in his ears… Tai Yu and the rest of the Guardians had remained behind in the Eternal Heaven God Realm along with all of their elders. They also had billions of disciples and it was even their homeground. How did the situation get so bad in such a short amount of time?

“Return!” He clenched his teeth together so hard that they nearly shattered as he gave that command. None of the people from the Eternal Heaven God Realm dared to hesitate for even a moment. A storm was left billowing in their wake as they rushed to return home.

“You want to leave?” Chi Wuyao’s bewitching lips curved up into a small smile. “Did you ask for this queen’s permission!?”

The black mist wreathing Chi Wuyao’s body dispersed and gently brushed over like black silk. That simple movement alone immediately created a black scar in space that was hundreds of kilometers long.

It was as if she had carved an abyss of darkness into the very fabric of reality.

The heavens and the earth split apart under the might of that “abyss”. The sect disciples who were weaker were instantly swallowed up by it and they did not even have time to scream before they were turned to nothingness.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

A whole bunch of strong individuals slammed into the ground and some of them suffered heavy injuries on the spot… However, not a single person turned around to retaliate. In fact, they did not even bother casting a glance in her direction. They immediately took to the skies again as they desperately rushed south.

An incredibly strange and ridiculous scene was playing out at the Eastern Divine Region’s northern borders.

A huge crowd of Eastern Divine Region profound practitioners were trying to flee south with all of their might. Meanwhile, a single person, Chi Wuyao, was corralling ten million people all by herself and every time she attacked, she took countless lives.

There was clearly such a huge disparity in strength between both sides, yet no one bothered to turn around and attack her.

Their homes were being besieged by devil people, if they were late by even a fraction of a second, their entire sects and clans might already be wiped out.

Now that even their roots were going to be pulled out, where could they find the heart or time to fight Chi Wuyao?

Rumble!!

The Eternal Heaven God Emperor swiveled his head to look back at her. He flung out his horsetail whisk and his power collided with Chi Wuyao’s power in midair. At the same time, he crushed three strangely-colored crystals in his hand, causing three small sound transmission profound formations to appear.

“Brahma Monarch God Realm, Star God Ream, Moon God Realm… The Eternal Heaven God Realm is under attack and the situation is extremely severe. Please rescue us!”

The sound transmission profound formation disappeared and Zhou Xuzi managed to calm himself down a little… From the sound transmissions that had come from the Eternal Heaven God Realm, he knew that the dimensional formations connecting it to the three other king realms had been destroyed as well.

However, given the distance between the king realms and the extreme speed at which they could respond, they would definitely arrive within several hours.

Given the amount of strength he had left in the Eternal Heaven God Realm and their hundreds of thousands of years worth of foundation, no matter how bad the situation became, they would still definitely be able to hold on for a few hours.

After that, he spun around to clash with Chi Wuyao before he let out a deep roar, “All of you are to return to the Eternal Heaven God Realm as soon as possible! Do not stop for anything!”

Rumble!!

The Eternal Heaven God Emperor’s power violently clashed with the Devil Queen’s power, causing the earth and the heavens to split open.

“Devil Queen! Your Northern Region destroyed your own star realms and framed my Eternal Heaven God Realm! And now you are even tormenting our Eastern Divine Region in such a way!”

“A devil’s heart is malevolent and cruel, your evil deeds are so numerous that they could fill the sky! Neither heaven nor earth can tolerate your wicked deeds! Aren’t you afraid that the heavenly law will destroy you!?”

Every time Zhou Xuzi waved the horsetail whisk in his hand, profound light that shone as bright as the midday sun shot out from it. Imperious might welled up in his furious eyes and righteous words of anger erupted from his mouth like peals of thunder.

But Chi Wuyao did not even deign to reply to him. Instead, she graced him with a mocking smile.

She pointed a finger toward him as light flickered in her devilish eyes. All of the light in the area went out in an instant as a gigantic domain of darkness appeared in the world like a devilish abyss. It devoured the Eternal Heaven divine power in the area and blasted Zhou Xuzi dozens of kilometers backward in the next instant.

Whether it was his profound strength or the strength of his soul, Zhou Xuzi was not a match for Chi Wuyao… and this was something he was made deeply aware of ten thousand years ago.

However, Chi Wuyao certainly could not defeat Zhou Xuzi in a short amount of time.

It was exceedingly rare for god emperors to ever truly have a clash of arms because even the most simple clash of their powers would result in a calamity that mortals could not even begin to imagine.

Chi Wuyao’s dark power was filled with an oppressive might that threatened to capsize the heavens and devour the world. Even someone as strong as Zhou Xuzi felt a chill of fear when faced with that power. Even if he flared his soul power to its limits, he still could not shake that subtle but nagging feeling of fear.

When he faced Chi Wuyao in this moment, he felt like an invisible demon was firmly latched to his soul.

Amidst the collapsing space and vanishing light, Zhou Xuzi had been forced back several thousand kilometers before even a single hour had passed. Even though he had not suffered any serious injuries, his face and arms were already scorched black and his body was riddled with hundreds of small black holes, holes that had been carved into his body by Chi Wuyao’s devouring darkness. He was in incredibly sorry shape.

However, Chi Wuyao did not even look like she had been scratched.

At this time, the stars around the star realms they were approaching started to blossom with a strange light.

Following that, many projections appeared in the sky as they opened up over countless places within the Eastern Divine Region.

Once those screens opened up, wails of incredible misery started to ring in the air and countless eyes in the Eastern Divine Region immediately looked to the sky.

Zhou Xuzi, who was in the middle of raising his horsetail whisk, unconsciously raised his head to look at the screen that had opened up above him… His body rigidly froze in that instant, and he looked as if he had been struck by a million bolts of lightning. Countless bloody veins immediately popped open in those eyes which had been filled with divine light.

At this moment, Chi Wuyao had “compassionately” stayed her hand as she sat back and enjoyed the incredibly entertaining and dazzling scene that was playing out in front of Zhou Xuzi’s eyes.

Blood… The screen was showing him a world entirely drenched in blood.

Bloodstained ruins, bloodied people, bloody mountains of corpses, blood-soaked land. Even the skies and clouds had been dyed a frighteningly dense shade of blood.

Those bloodstained ruins were collapsed divine halls and Eternal Heaven palaces. The bloody mountains of corpses were made up of the bodies of countless Eternal Heaven disciples. The pools of blood could practically form an ocean of Eternal Heaven’s blood...

Bloody fog, wails of misery, death… Zhou Xuzi’s body started shuddering harder and harder, and the bloody veins in his eyes were frantically exploding as his entire body seemed to turn pallid. It was as if all the blood had been sucked out of him in a single instant.

The Eternal Heaven God Realm, the number two king realm in the Eastern Divine Region so powerful that normally nobody would dare offend them?

Even when he had heard all of those frantic sound transmissions, even when they started to be filled with fear and despair, the word “defeat” had never crossed his mind once. Because that was the Eternal Heaven God Realm. Even if he had mobilized a large amount of its strength, there was no way his remaining forces would truly be defeated on their own turf by the invading devil people.

However, in a single hour, no, in less than an hour… it had actually turned into a blood-colored hell.

His Eternal Heaven God Realm had been turned into hell on earth.

He was not witnessing the brave resistance that he had imagined. Instead… a one-sided massacre seemed to be playing out in front of his eyes!

The collapsing Eternal Heaven disciples, the Eternal Heaven Elders who were being chopped to pieces, and even the occasional Guardian, who flashed by the screen from time to time, had suffered shocking wounds. Furthermore, every single Guardian was facing two terrifying devils who were at least equal to them in strength.

There was also Honorable Tai Yu, who simply floated in midair in a daze. It was as if his soul had left his body.

At this time, a face suddenly appeared on the screen… It was a face that all of the Eastern Divine Region’s profound practitioners were exceedingly familiar with. But it was now also a face that seemed extremely unfamiliar to them.

His black eyes were like two dark abysses, his smile was practically demonic, and the moment his face appeared on that screen, the atmosphere in the entire Eastern Divine Region suddenly grew hushed and stifling.

“Old dog Eternal Heaven.” His lips curled into a sinister smile as his voice reverberated in everyone’s ears like the curses of a bloodthirsty demon. “It’s been a long time. Are you satisfied with this greeting gift that I’ve sent you?”

“...” Zhou Xuzi’s mouth gaped open. At some point in time, his eyes had turned scarlet red and his throat started moving up and down in a warped manner. A long time passed before he finally managed to whisper in a voice that sounded as dry and withered as a desiccated tree branch, “Yun… Che…”

“The last time we met in the Northern Divine Region, I casually squished one of your sons like a bug.” Yun Che gave a deep chuckle as he stretched out his hand and made the same crushing action he had made when he had obliterated Zhou Qingchen. “But since we’re meeting again under such splendid circumstances in the Eastern Divine Region, how can my greeting gift… be any lighter than that!?”

He thrust a palm backwards and a beam of black light suddenly shot out from it… Zhou Xuzi’s pupils violently contracted as a tiny world hidden in the heart of the Eternal Heaven God Realm collapsed with a bang, flinging out its occupants. Several hundred people immediately appeared on the screen.

The moment these figures were flung out of the tiny world, Zhou Xuzi immediately started howling like a wild beast… In the Eternal Heaven God Realm, the dazed Honorable Tai Yu spasmed as if thousands of swords had pierced his soul. He let out a furious roar that was as loud as thunder, “Run! Hurry up and run!!”

That tiny world that had just been destroyed had been created by their grand ancestor with the Great Void Cauldron. It was used as a hideaway when the Eternal Heaven God Realm was in great peril, and it was basically impossible to detect from the outside.

Yet Yun Che had destroyed it with a single blow.

The ones who could be hidden even in the midst of this calamity were undoubtedly important people… In fact, they were Zhou Xuzi’s most illustrious and capable descendants.

When Yun Che arrived, he had already sensed the existence of this special tiny world, but he deliberately left it alone. How could he not give such a luxurious gift to Zhou Xuzi himself!?

Honorable Tai Yu let out a furious roar as he rushed toward Yun Che, but a frail body suddenly flashed in front of him like black lightning...

BOOOM!!

As an explosion of dark energy rang out in the air, space collapsed and Honorable Tai Yu spat out a mouth of black blood before he was sent spinning away like a top.

Zhou Xuzi… and every profound practitioner from the Eastern Divine Region who witnessed this scene were nearly shocked to death.

The entire world knew that Honorable Tai Yu was the strongest Eternal Heaven Guardian! He was a level ten Divine Master who stood at the very peak of the profound way.

Yet he had actually been… sent flying by a single blow!? He had been blasted away while blood streamed from his mouth.

An elderly man wrapped in a pitch-black mantle appeared in this warped scene. His face was extremely ugly and his body was as dried and withered as a skeleton, but when his eyes turned toward the projection profound formation, the wild and sinister black light that flashed in those ancient eyes sent a chill down the spine of countless profound practitioners.

Yan One, the strongest Yama Ancestor.

The strength of these three Yama Ancestors was far too frightening, and this was not only something the Eternal Heaven God Realm felt. Even the Moon Eaters who had personally witnessed the might of the Yama Ancestors all felt a deep shock and fear seep into their bones.

In fact, they were even made to feel that their presence was basically unwarranted.

These three old monsters alone probably had enough strength to level the entire Eternal Heaven God Realm by the end of the day.

“Uwaaaaaaaah!”

“Royal father, save me… SAVE ME!!”

The inhabitants of the tiny world could witness everything that was happening outside, so their wits had long since been frightened out of them.

Now that they had been thrown out of the tiny world and the terrifying demons were right in front of them, the descendants of the Eternal Heaven’s royal bloodline and will had simply collapsed in despair. They were like a bunch of startled birds which had started to flee noisily.

“Hehe, how noisy,” Yun Che said with a grin on his voice. “Did old dog Eternal Heaven never teach any of his children how to properly greet guests?

He gently flicked a finger as he lazily said, “Yan Three, properly teach them how to remain silent on behalf of that old dog Eternal Heaven.”

“Yes Master! JIEHAHAHAHAHA!”

As he let out an excited, bloodcurdling cackle, Yan Three’s body soared into the sky as he sped after the fleeing descendants of Zhou Xuzi.

The veins in Zhou Xuzi’s scarlet eyes were on the verge of exploding and he felt as if his body was being mauled by gigantic mallets. His body swayed violently before he suddenly shot into the sky and yelled in a frantic voice, “Stop! Stop!!! STOOOOOOP!!!”

Boom!

Boom!

He waved his arms wildly in the air as he desperately threw his out-of-control Eternal Heaven divine power at the image of Yan Three.

However, what he saw was three black claws of energy that Yan Three had launched out with his ghost claw.

Rip!!

Under those black claws, the shuddering space, the blood-stained ground, and more than one hundred fleeing figures were instantly torn apart.