Against the Gods

Chapter 1113 - The Cursed Northern Divine Region

During the time Yun Che spent cultivating within Black Soul Mountain, the Darkya Realm had gone through an overturning of heaven and the earth due to the Soul Sect. Although Yun Che was at the heart of these changes, he didn’t care one bit. He traveled deeper into the danger zone of the Black Soul Mountain, the sword in his hand killing more and more dangerous profound beasts, seeking his breakthrough.

Boom!!

A sky shaking boom sounded, and a tall mountain was split right through the middle. A large horned profound beast fell into the rubble.

Yun Che was catching his breath, wounds evident on his entire body, and he was near exhaustion. He didn’t immediately look for a safe place to recover but instead looked west.

A female figure was heading his way and landed from the sky. Ji Ruyan was wearing a light blue outfit today. Her skirt had silvery nine petaled flower patterns on it, her muslin belt was the color of water lotuses and her hair was comfortably fanned out, flowing loosely in the wind. In her hair was a lilac flower hairpin, making her look quite casual, yet not losing any elegance.

“Sir Ling Yun is truly outstanding.” Ji Ruyan’s beautiful eyes overflowed with a rippling brilliance that may cause others to let out heartfelt sighs.

Behind her was an old individual with half a head of white hair. He had a similar look of surprise when he laid his eyes on Yun Che... He had personally seen the young man before him slay a huge profound beast in the early stages of the Divine Tribulation Realm. Although Yun Che had sustained injuries all over, he was clearly only at the second level of the Divine Soul Realm.

“Miss Ruyan, what are you doing here?” Yun Che looked at Ji Ruyan and then carefully probed the old man behind her. This man’s profound strength was powerful, he was most likely in the Divine Spirit Realm. Without his protection, Ji Ruyan would not have been able to come here.

It was the Black Feather Merchant Guild after all. Even though they couldn’t measure up to the Soul Sect, having a Divine Spirit expert among their ranks was pretty much expected.

Ji Ruyan smiled as she looked back, “Sixth Uncle.”

The old man turned around. Before he left, he looked Yun Che straight in the eye, and then vanished into the sky. His aura was still around, though hidden, so that he could protect Ruyan at any given time.

“Phew,” Yun Che sucked in a deep breath and put away the Heaven Smiting Sword. He sat on the ground and started to recover from his injuries.

Ji Ruyan stepped forward, gathering her skirt to the side. Not fearing getting her beautiful dress soiled, she sat in front of Yun Che. She retrieved a purple crystal ring. “Sir Ling Yun instructed us previously to look for some high grade profound swords. What you need should be inside.”

“I’m not sure if you remember this, but when we first met there was the subject of Wind End Villa. Wind End Villa was annihilated by the Soul Sect, and they lost their famed swords. Most of them were actually within the Soul Sect. Father considers Sir Ling Yun’s requests as of utmost importance, so he spent a lot of gold and resources in order to find these famed swords. I believe after you see them, you will definitely not be disappointed.”

Yun Che took the purple crystal ring and swept it with his profound strength. There were various types of profound swords, at least thirty in total and each sword gave off an extraordinary aura. Within the Blue Pole Star, they would be swords without compare, and even in the God Realm, they would still be extraordinary weapons.

“Very good.” Yun Che laughed. He put away the ring and expressed his thanks with his gaze.

The swords that Hong’er used to eat, with the exception of the Eternal Night Devil Sword, all of them were ordinary swords from the lower realm. And right now what he’d obtained were swords of the divine way. Just any one of them would give Hong’er a large raise in power should she eat it.

What he needed the most right now was for the Heaven Smiting Sword to grow so that his own power would grow.

“The evil deeds of the Soul Sect are far too many. Several sects in the Darkya Realm were previously angry yet too afraid to do anything about it. Now that they’ve lost the backing of the Divine Martial Realm, they will most likely fall into dire straits. My father is not a vindictive man. Before vengeance from those sects fall, he will have sent all those whose cultivations have been crippled to the respective branch sects, and those branch sects have since all sealed themselves.”

Yun Che calmly closed his eyes and nodded. Seeing that he wasn’t that interested, Ji Ruyan didn’t continue, but she didn’t leave. Waves of shock washed through her as she saw the injuries on Yun Che’s body. She softly asked, “Sir Ling Yun, why… why are you pursuing profound strength in such a manner? Based on your current cultivation, you’re considered extraordinary among your peers. You’re practically betting your life to cultivate. Searching intently for the Nine Star Divine Buddha Jade and the Immortal Emperor Grass is so that you can increase your profound strength, am I right?

“...I want to enter the Profound God Convention in two years,” Yun Che flatly replied.

Ji Ruyan was shocked, she wasn’t sure if it was because of his reason or him telling her straight out. “I see, that is indeed an ultimate goal of many young profound practitioners.”

“Miss Ruyan, you’ve seen many things and your knowledge is vast. You even know about this session’s Profound God Convention and the conditions surrounding it. Are you able to tell me about the four great king realms, especially…” Yun Che opened his eyes. “The Star God Realm.”

“This…” Ji Ruyan sighed, and after some thought “With regards to matters on the level of the king realms, even the upper star realms have difficulty getting ahold of them, what more a small organization like us… All Ruyan knows is what everyone else in the God Realm know. For example… Mentioning the Star God Realm, the first thing that comes to everyone’s mind is the twelve star gods, with the leader of the twelve star gods being the Great Realm King; the Heavenly Chief Star God.”

“The Realm King of the Star God Realm is also one of the twelve star gods?” Yun Che asked in surprise.

“That’s right,” Ji Ruyan replied and then smiled. “Right now Ruyan completely believes that Sir Ling Yun really is from the lower realms, because in the God Realm, this is common knowledge that even children know about.”

“...King realm’s Realm King, and also the leader of the twelve star gods. Although they’re all considered the twelve star gods, it looks like he’s considered far superior to the rest,” Yun Che murmured.

“Actually, it’s on the contrary.” Ji Ruyan disagreed, shaking her head “When it comes to power, the strongest among the twelve star gods is the Heavenly Wolf Star God.”

“...” Yun Che’s gaze shifted.

“Especially the Heavenly Wolf Star God of the previous generation. He was exceptionally terrifying. Although he was the current Star God Realm King’s youngest son, he was less than sixty years of age, yet he could charge into the Moon God Realm alone. That battle caused his fame to soar, even us from the lower star realms all know of his feats. No one had any doubts that he would eventually surpass the Heavenly Chief Star God, and even perhaps become the strongest Heavenly Wolf Star God in all of history. Who would have thought that he would fall a little more more than a decade ago… A lot of people said that this was the result of the jealousy of the heavens.”

Yun Che’s eyebrows tensed up: Jasmine’s brother...

“However, what surprised everyone the most was that when the previous generation’s Heavenly Wolf Star God fell, the Star God Realm had someone else to succeed him soon after, with a higher affinity that surpassed that of the previous generation.” Ji Ruyan shook her head, “It was simply unbelievable, it seems that luck is shining upon the Star God Realm in this generation. I hope this luck doesn’t continue with regards to their ‘True God Project’.”

“True God… Plan? What is that?” Yun Che exclaimed in surprise, it actually had the two words “true god” in them, sending waves of shock through his heart.

Ji Ruyan laughed, “At the level of the king realms, those at the peak of the Divine Master Realm are all looking for ways to break through, attaining an even higher realm.

Of our Eastern Divine Region’s four king realms, aside from the Eternal Heaven Realm, the Brahma Monarch Realm, the Star God Realm, and the Moon God Realm are all pursuing the path of the True Gods, especially the Brahma Monarch Realm and the Star God Realm. Many years ago, there was a hint of them finding the method to reach the True God level, however it should have been fake news, gods are gods, man is still man. It is impossible for man to ever reach the heights of the extinct gods.”

She smiled, “Even a weak girl like me knows about it, so they’d definitely also understand this logic.”

“The greater one is, the more they will want to pursue greater heights. They have reached the limits of what humans can accomplish, and so now they want to break through the limits.” Yun Che calmly said, “The other king realms of the other divine regions should likewise be the same. Even if they know it’s impossible deep down, they will still not stop their search for a breakthrough.”

Ji Ruyan unblinkingly replied with a cheerful smile, “Looks like Sir Ling Yun looks forward to the king realms. I’ll wish you all the best in advance if you do get into the Profound God Convention. Once you enter the Eternal Heaven God Realm, you’ll be able to see members of the king realms. Perhaps you’ll even get to meet the experts from Western Divine Region’s king realms.”

“Western Divine Region?” Yun Che was surprised, “Why specifically the Western Divine Region?”

“That’s because the Northern and Southern Divine Region will not attend the convention,” Ji Ruyan answered.

“Why is that so?”

Ji Ruyan softly gently explained, “Of the vast God Realm, the Western Divine Region is the largest and strongest of them all. The Dragon God Realm is furthermore the pre-eminent realm amongst them. The True Dragon Race is powerful and feared. They are arrogant but not violent. They are adored and worshipped by many living beings and the Western Divine Region is helmed by the Dragon God Realm. They are on good terms with the king realms of the Eastern and Southern Divine Region, but the Eastern and Southern Divine Regions have some disputes between them. As for the Northern Divine Region…”

Ji Ruyan paused for a while before continuing, “The territory of the Northern Divine Region is the smallest and its power the weakest. They are, in fact, ostracized by the other three divine regions. Besides being ostracized, you could also say that they view the other three divine regions with hatred. They will never step onto any territory belonging to the other three and the Eastern, Western and Southern Divine Regions will similarly not tread into the North.”

“Why? Is there some sort of enmity?” Yun Che asked.

“Frankly, the Northern Divine Region can be considered a tragic realm.” Ji Ruyan carried on, “During the Era of Gods, the Northern Divine Region was where the devil race lived. After the devil race was annihilated, although they didn’t leave behind as many inheritances as the god race, the former devil regions all held a very heavy dark and devilish energy. Anyone who entered those ‘devil regions’ and lived there would be influenced by the dark devil energy and they would develop dark constitutions. Their profound energy would also make them akin to ‘devils’.”

“And this darkness constitution is passed down generation by generation.”

“Because of the influence of the dark constitution and darkness profound energy, should the Northern Divine Region’s ‘devils’ enter into other divine regions, their strength will diminish and they will grow weaker, unable to adapt to the conditions. Similarly, if anyone from the three other divine regions enter into the Northern God Realms, they will be influenced the dark devil energy and their strength will suffer a great dip as well. Thus, the Northern Divine Region and the other three divine regions basically have no relations. They’ve often been dubbed by the three other divine regions as the ‘devil region’.”

“Looks like, in the eyes of the other divine regions, the ‘devils’ of the Northern Divine Region are considered ‘heretical’ existences?” Yun Che replied.

“Yes,” Ji Ruyan nodded. “Darkness profound energy is basically the energy of the devil way. Not only is it in opposition to the divine way, it will twist one’s personality. Rumor has it that the stronger a devil is, the more evil deeds they have done, and the more lives they have taken, causing them to become extraordinary fearsome devils.”

Yun Che, “...”

“However, as the Primal Chaos Dimension’s yin energies have been decreasing, the territory suitable for the ‘devils’ of the Northern Divine Region have been constantly shrinking. Not even within a million years, the Northern Divine Region territory has already reduced by two thirds. Disappearing into nothing will come sooner or later. This is why they can be considered to be the most tragic divine region.”

“So what you’re saying is that the members of the Northern Divine Region are likened to being trapped in a cage that is growing smaller and smaller over time. They are indeed tragic.” Yun Che didn’t feel strange about it at all. Back then, the Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign was unable to leave the dark environment and was thus trapped in the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest, not daring to take even half a step out of it.

But his brows immediately moved… Something was not right.

When he heard the legends concerning the Era of Gods, they only mentioned the separation of devils and gods. They didn’t mention anything about them not being able to step into each other’s territories. It was a matter of “willingness”, not an issue of “no choice”. The Moon Slaughter Devil Sovereign was unable to leave the Moon Slaughter Devil Nest since his soul origin was heavily damaged, and he could only exist within the dark energy environment, unable to leave.

As for Fen Juechen, he was someone who had the constitution of a darkness attribute body. His power had also transformed in become darkness profound energy. Though his personality had been twisted and resembled how Ji Ruyan had described the Northern Divine Region’s “devils”, Fen Juechen had never lived in a darkness environment. Xuanyuan Wentian, who ended up in the same situation was also like this.

Perhaps the darkness environment would affect their bodies and powers, causing adverse effects, but it should not be an issue of survival.

“There should be a specific reason why the Northern Divine Region inhabitants are unable to leave their ‘devil regions’. Are they being forced to hole up?” Yun Che suddenly asked. “Once any of the ‘devils’ leave the Northern Divine Region, will they be hunted down by members of the other divine regions?”

“Of course.” Ji Ruyan replied without hesitation, and she specifically used the words “of course”. “Devils are all terrifying existences. If the Northern Divine Region vanishes completely, that would be one less large hidden threat to the God Realm.”

“...” Yun Che didn’t continue. Jasmine had also warned him more than once to never reveal his darkness profound energy, as those with darkness profound energy were considered heretics and abominations in the eyes of everyone else. It was severe to the point of inciting widespread fear in all living beings. They were rejected by everything under the sun.

What Jasmine said could be confirmed by Ji Ruyan’s expression as it seemed that all of the God Realm inhabitants believed these points.

As the both of them were conversing, unbeknownst to them, high up in the sky was a young girl in a colorful dress. She huffily and angrily said, “Why is she still not leaving? That hateful woman… No! That hateful brother-in-law, he’s actually so close to this woman, and they have so much to say to each other… So detestable!!”