Against the Gods (Web Novel)
chapter-2022

Chapter 2022 - Shadow of Ni Xuan

The silhouette grew clearer and clearer. In the end, it took the form of an old man.

Wait. An old man?

This wasn’t the first time Yun Che made contact with the Heretic God, Ni Xuan.

The water seed had been imbued with a faint wisp of the Heretic God’s soul, and he had briefly spoken with the soul fragment before. However, the soul was so weak that it couldn’t even manifest a silhouette. Yun Che could only tell that it was an old voice that seemed to come from a man on his deathbed.

It was also that time he was taught the word “mission”, though he wouldn’t learn its true meaning until Jie Yuan returned.

Even before he came to the Abyss and made contact with the final Heretic God Seed, Yun Che had already figured out a thing or two. If Jie Yuan could sense that something was wrong with the Abyss through the unusual flow of the dark profound energy, there was no way the Heretic God wouldn’t be able to do the same, especially since the change of energies should be the greatest and most obvious after the gods and devils were all dead.

In fact, he might have tried to descend into the Abyss but was forced to return exactly the same as Jie Yuan.

So, the Heretic God could not check what was going on in the Abyss in person, but he did toss a seed into the Abyss. What were the chances he might have had imbued the seed with a sliver of his soul? To find out what was really going on in the Abyss?

He was right. The moment the earth seed had returned to his Heretic God Profound Vein, he immediately sensed a soul fragment awakening from its slumber.

The Heretic God’s actual image didn’t really fit Yun Che’s imagination, however. He was dressed in a tattered white robe that resembled rags. His long hair was grayish and messy, his beard was fully white, and they were so long that they touched the ground. It was as if he hadn’t groomed himself for a very, very long time.

A pair of sunken eyes hid behind his wrinkled face. They were so murky it was unthinkable that they belonged to the Heretic God even if it was just a soul. It was also impossible to say if his wrinkles were caused by age or poison.

Is this what the Heretic God looked like after scattering his seeds and on the verge of death?

Yun Che slowly dropped to his knees and bowed his head before the silhouette.

The Heretic God was the one and only person in the world besides his parents that Yun Che was completely willing to prostrate himself to. Why? Because he was his benefactor, his master, and the ancient god who saved the entire world. If he wasn’t deserving of respect, then who was?

“Mortal human Yun Che greets senior Heretic God. When I was sixteen years old, I was fortunate enough to receive your inheritance and it changed my whole life. Since then, I have continued to receive your blessing to this day. I am beyond glad that my luxurious wish to witness your true appearance has finally been fulfilled.”

Soul fragments were basically independent entities. Although the soul fragment on the water seed was aware of Yun Che’s existence, this was the first time the soul fragment on the earth seed had met Yun Che.

A warm, gentle smile surfaced on the old man’s face. “You may be mortal, but you are anything but ordinary. You could not have reunited the seeds and recreated this world otherwise.”

“As for me, I haven’t been the Heretic God for a long time,” the Heretic God sighed while looking at the familiar yet distant profound vein world. “You are the only one left who is deserving of that title.”

Yun Che shook his head. “I don’t deserve the title so long as you still exist, senior.”

Ni Xuan smiled but didn’t give him a response. He simply admired the world around him again and again. There was no surprise, yearning or reminiscence, however. There was only… the bleak feelings of a dying old man.

At that moment, Yun Che suddenly figured out the truth. Ni Xuan wasn’t trying to sense his former power. He was sensing… the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor’s aura. After all, he now possessed Jie Yuan’s blood and her Eternal Calamity of Darkness.

Yun Che’s heart abruptly gushed with sorrow. He had countless questions he wanted to ask; countless things he wanted to share with Ni Xuan, but… he just couldn’t bring himself to interrupt Ni Xuan right now.

“Jie Yuan… came back?” The ancient voice trembled a little like the shivering wind.

“She did,” Yun Che replied softly, “Senior Jie Yuan returned to Primal Chaos after breaching the wall with the World Piercer… Less than a decade has passed since that day.”

“Is she… alright?”

He didn’t ask what happened after she returned. All he wanted to know… was if she was safe.

“... Senior Jie Yuan is doing fantastically, be it physically or soul wise,” Yun Che said while looking straight at Ni Xuan so that the old man could see his sincerity. “Although her appearance was scarred by the powers beyond Primal Chaos, she was very healthy. Her powers were incomplete, but she could still suppress all life in Primal Chaos with the single snap of her finger.”

He didn’t hide the fact that Jie Yuan was scarred because the duo’s relationship was so deep that it had long transcended race, laws, and prejudice. What might have balked an ordinary mortal was nothing to them. To conceal this from Ni Xuan would’ve been an affront to their relationship.

“As for her soul, it is as intact as it is great. When she returned, her hatred could’ve consumed all of Primal Chaos. When she recognized the descendants of the Heaven Punishing Divine Emperor, she was filled with rage. And when she heard of your death, she was so sad that she temporarily lost herself.”

“Her voice was always laced with anger and hatred whenever she spoke of the world, and yet it was she who chose to exile herself and her Devil Gods later to give us eternal peace.”

“The millions of years she spent outside Primal Chaos failed to destroy her soul, much less wipe out the true benevolence hidden behind her tough exterior. She is… the devil I and everyone else in Primal Chaos respects the most, and the greatest devil in all of Primal Chaos.”

Ni Xuan smiled as if he wasn’t surprised by this in the slightest. “Indeed… she is Jie Yuan after all.”

How could she have captured his heart so if she wasn’t who she was?

“Thank you for telling me this, Yun Che. To think that I, a lonely soul who should’ve vanished a long time ago, would receive such luxurious warmth and kindness in my final moments…”

Yun Che shook his head immediately. “I am only telling you the truth. All living beings in Primal Chaos owe you and Jie Yuan a favor they will never be able to repay. There is no way we can possibly deserve your thanks.”

Ni Xuan slowly looked up and let out a sigh of infinite sorrow and regret, “I regret I cannot see her again; regret that I cannot… apologize for what happened to her…”

Yun Che shook his head again. “What apology? You are husband and wife. Senior Jie Yuan had left with no regrets or grievances whatsoever. If there must be one, it would be the fact that she couldn’t see you again.”

“Yeah…” Ni Xuan murmured, “Had I really apologized to her, she would’ve beaten me into a pulp, hahaha.”

He smiled… but he knew he would never be able to receive a beating from his beloved ever again.

Feeling a little downcast, Yun Che decided to change the subject, “Senior Ni Xuan, did you… ever hate what happened back then? And how everything turned out the way it was?”

“Hate?” His voice sounded as ephemeral as a ghost. “Hate… who?”

“For example,” Yun Che said directly, “the man who had started this tragedy—the Heaven Punishing Divine Emperor, Mo E.”

The world fell silent, and Yun Che waited. However, Ni Xuan didn’t give him a reply for a long, long time. He couldn’t even sense a sliver of hatred from the man.

Not only that, Yun Che was picking up a kind of soundless sorrow and pain from Ni Xuan instead. His soul was so weak, but his pain was so strong that Yun Che almost forgot to breathe.

“Mo E…” He whispered the old, painful name, “What right do I have to hate him…? On the contrary, he has every right to hate me…”

“...??” This confused Yun Che to put it mildly. When the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor had mentioned the name “Mo E”, she had been furious enough to desecrate his corpse should such a thing still exist. Such was her hatred that even his subordinate gods and their very distant descendants weren’t exempt from her hate.

Considering what Mo E had done to her, her hatred made perfect sense. If she wasn’t who she was, several million years of hatred would’ve been enough to drive her into a devil god who knew only vengeance.

He thought that Ni Xuan would surely share the same sentiment, but instead, he sensed only pain, sorrow and… guilt from the man. It didn’t make sense.

What right do I have to hate him? On the contrary, he has every right to hate me?

“I don’t understand,” Yun Che asked in puzzlement, “It was Mo E who ambushed senior Jie Yuan and separated you two. It was he who caused her to suffer outside Primal Chaos for millions of years. Even your child was… that was why you lost all hope and abandoned your title, wasn’t it?”

“That ambush was also the spark that eventually started the war that would end both the gods and devils. If it wasn’t for him, none of the tragedies would have happened, and the world would still be ruled by the gods and the devils.”

He even wanted to say that the war between the gods and devils was what caused Primal Chaos to change, and the laws of the Abyss to deteriorate much faster than expected. Even if he pretended that the deterioration had nothing to do with the war, Primal Chaos would’ve been safe should the gods and devils still exist. They could’ve easily thwarted an invasion.

“No, no, no,” Ni Xuan denied three times in a row, and each word sounded more heartbroken and guilty than the last, “All of the fault lies with me, not him. I am the one who wronged him.”

“I didn’t discard my title because I had lost all hope. It was simply because I no longer deserved the title. Just the same, I went into seclusion later on because I… was too ashamed to face anyone.”

“????” If Yun Che was confused before, now he was utterly flabbergasted.

What on earth is he saying?

Why is it completely different from what I learned?

Was there another secret behind the Heaven Punishing Divine Emperor’s ambush of the Heaven Smiting Devil Emperor?

The reason he went so far as to sacrifice one-third of his lifespan to activate the Heaven Punishing Ancestral Sword and exiled Jie Yuan…

The reason he went so far as to destroy the balance the two races had maintained for countless years…

The reason he tarnished his own reputation and power…

And the reason he sacrificed another third of his lifespan just to defeat the Heretic God…

Was it not because he couldn’t accept the fact that a Creation God was colluding with a Devil Emperor? Or was it just a part of it?

If there really was another reason, then why… Did Jie Yuan not know about this?

“Senior, what you just told me greatly differed from the ‘truth’ I know… in that case, what is the truth?”

To be fair, the “truth” Yun Che arrived at was mostly deductions based on the facts he learned from the Ice Phoenix Divine Soul and himself, plus the circumstantial statements he received from Jie Yuan. But now that he thought about it, Jie Yuan only knew that Mo E had suddenly ambushed her and her Devil Gods out of nowhere…

Ni Xuan said slowly, “I’m sorry, but I’m unwilling to retread the past. Mo E was unwilling to speak even a word about it when he was still alive, and I am the same. I would rather let that part of history lay buried in dust like the gods and devils for eternity.”

All sorts of complex emotions poured into Yun che’s soul sea until he was suffocating.

Ni Xuan truly didn’t wish to bring up the past.

Even the mere thought of it brought him indescribable pain and suffering.