Against the Gods

A jade-like slender hand that seemed to be formed from snow itself lightly caressed Mu Bingyun’s icy face. A soft and gentle voice that perhaps no one else in this universe would get to hear came from her lips, “Bingyun, you’ve grown tired. Rest for a while.”

The instability within the sect, the heavy pressure on the Snow Song Realm, the reputation as a “realm of sinners”, the drastically reduced status of their star realm, the predatory gazes of the other realms...

All of these things had been weighing on Mu Bingyun and Mu Bingyun alone over the past few years.

Today, she had even used her own life to ensure the Divine Ice Phoenix Sect’s safety.

Mu Xuanyin had heard every single word she said, seen every single tear she shed.

As she said those soft words to her, her delicate fingers caressed Mu Bingyun’s face and snowy neck… A wisp of light blue ice energy melted into her snowy skin as it soundlessly entered her heart and soul.

Mu Bingyun did not resist at all. Her eyelids no longer trembled and her breathing slowly stabilized. As a quiet and serene peace overtook her, a feeling that she hadn’t had in a very long time, she drifted off into sleep like an obedient and satisfied kitten.

Her tears sparkled like stars and her lips had curled up into an extremely beautiful smile

When Mu Bingyun was still a child, she had loved to nestle her head in her big sister’s full and tender bosom as she slept. It was the best time for her, the time when she felt the most secure. No matter how great the setback or failure was, she would forget all about it as she slept peacefully in her big sister’s bosom.

After that, her big sister became the Snow Song Realm King and she was no longer able to indulge herself like a child.

Mu Xuanyin gently waved a snowy hand in the air, forming an ice bed out of thin air. She gently laid the sleeping Mu Bingyun on top of the ice bed before she started to slowly turn in Chi Wuyao’s direction.

Her eyes were extremely cold and her face was so fair and pretty that it made all of the snowy regions in the world lose their splendor. Her long hair fell to her waist and the purest essence of ice seemed to be contained within each icy-blue strand.

Chi Wuyao had already been sure of it, but now that she had fully revealed her face to her, it immediately caused billowing ripples to appear in Chi Wuyao’s trembling eyes.

Mu… Xuan…yin!

The Snow Princess Sword gleamed with an icy light that was as resplendent as a brilliant dawn. It seemed to be glowing in an incredibly excited and animated fashion, as if it was prancing with joy.

Four years ago, the Dragon Monarch had dealt her a fatal blow outside the destroyed Blue Pole Star with a single strike of his palm. After that, Yun Che had personally lowered her body into the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake. Yet, here she was… Standing in front of Mu Bingyun and Chi Wuyao without a single scratch on her.

It wasn’t an illusion or a disguise. No matter how unbelievable it seemed to her, Chi Wuyao had been utterly convinced from the very first moment she saw her. This was the real Mu Xuanyin, the Mu Xuanyin who had once been dead and now was alive.

She knew it was her because she was the person who understood Mu Xuanyin the best in this world. They had lived together for ten thousand years, so she was all too familiar with every inch of her snowy skin, every wisp of her soul, every tendril of her aura. It was impossible for her to mistake her for someone else.

“Mu Xuanyin,” Chi Wuyao said with a small smile on her face as she stared into Mu Xuanyin’s ice-cold eyes. She had only said those three short syllables, but they were filled with emotions and feelings that were far too complex to even describe. “As expected, the Ice Phoenix, who shared the same bloodline and origin as the Phoenix, also possessed the same power of ‘Nirvana’.”

“As expected, the power that the Ice Phoenix divine being bequeathed to you before disappearing from this world was her ‘nirvana’ divine power.”

She started to smile. It was a smile for both her and Yun Che… She was unable to even imagine just how excited and joyful Yun Che would be if Mu Xuanyin reappeared in his life.

Mu Xuanyin had indeed died four years ago. She had used her life to save Yun Che, and her icy beauty had disappeared from this world forever.

To the knowledge of the world, the Ice Phoenix and the Phoenix were two contradictory existences, they were beings who should have been mortal enemies.

In reality, they actually came from the same bloodline in the far distant Primordial Era. It was only later that they fractured into two entirely distinct clans.

There were many legends in the current God Realm about how many ancient phoenixes would revive if they were bathed in fire and they would even grow stronger after their resurrection.

Unfortunately, the records of how the ancient ice phoenixes could achieve the same nirvanic rebirth after their first death if they were immersed in ice had been lost to the world.

Before the Ice Phoenix divine being, who had lived in the depths of the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake, faded away, she had felt very guilty for interfering with Mu Xuanyin’s will for a very long time. As a result, she bestowed a very special thread of ice energy to her as compensation.

This special thread of ice energy contained the Ice Phoenix divine being’s nirvanic divine energy.

The trace of nirvanic power that Yun Che had inherited all those years ago had come from a fragment of the Phoenix’s spirit. It was extremely weak and had only just managed to preserve his life energy when he had died in the Star God Realm. However, his powers and divine body had remained dead.

However, the being that had lived in the depths of the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake had been the true ancient Ice Phoenix. Even though the nirvanic divine energy she had given to Mu Xuanyin also wasn’t complete, it was many times stronger than the nirvanic divine energy that Yun Che had obtained.

Mu Xuanyin had all along been undergoing a nirvanic rebirth due to the ice energy within the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake.

A complete body, a complete soul, and...

An Ice Phoenix divine power that had undergone a quiet but fundamental change due to the nirvanic divine energy coursing through her body.

When her life had been ebbing away, Mu Xuanyin discovered Chi Wuyao’s existence right before her soul scattered away. Thus, she knew exactly who this black-clad, devilish seductress whose bewitching allure could bring calamity to the world was.

She did not say a single word. Instead, she slowly raised the Snow Princess Sword in her hand. An icy light erupted from it as it pierced toward Chi Wuyao.

Chi Wuyao remained completely still, she did not even circulate any profound energy to protect herself.

Pfffft!

The piercingly clear sound of silk being ripped apart rang through the air as the Snow Princess Sword mercilessly plunged into Chi Wuyao’s left shoulder. The tip of the sword pierced through the back of her shoulder as it glinted with an icy light.

Blood started to gush out of the wound before it was immediately sealed with cold energy. The icy sword light gleaming from the Snow Princess Sword was reflected in both women’s eyes as they silently stared at one another from an incredibly close distance.

They had shared an existence for ten thousand years, but this was the first time they had truly met each other.

Chii!

The Snow Princess Sword slid out of Chi Wuyao’s body and no blood stained it. Chi Wuyao’s body violently swayed but she did not even bother glancing at the wound. In fact, she did not even seem the slightest bit angry.

The sword light vanished and Mu Xuanyin turned around and said with a cold voice, “On account of you specially coming to save Bingyun and on account of your sincere feelings for Yun Che… The grievances between us have been settled by that thrust of my sword.”

Chi Wuyao gave a very sweet smile as she spoke in a soft voice, “Mu Xuanyin, even though you’ve experienced death, you still haven’t changed one bit. One thing has always been troubling me over the years, and that is whether I had influenced you more or vice versa.”

Mu Xuanyin: “...”

Chi Wuyao straightened her back, not bothering with the wound on her shoulder. She walked to stand beside Mu Xuanyin and smiled as she gazed at her profile… After all, their souls had been connected for ten thousand years, so even though that connection had now been severed, they had already formed a special kind of spiritual connection and bond.

It was the same for Mu Xuanyin as well.

“Can you tell me how long it’s been since you’ve woken up?” Chi Wuyao asked.

“Three years,” Mu Xuanyin replied.

“...I see,” Chi Wuyao muttered to herself.

“Help me take Bingyun back to the Snow Song Realm,” Mu Xuanyin said. It was hard to tell what sort of emotions were contained within those beautiful glacial eyes. “Tell her to not reveal my revival to anyone. You are also not to tell anyone about this.”

“Does that include even ‘him’?” Chi Wuyao’s beautiful eyes turned toward her.

“Yes,” Mu Xuanyin replied without a trace of hesitation.

“Why?”

A cold wind blew past them, causing icy-blue hair to flutter across Mu Xunayin’s snowy celestial face. Even Chi Wuyao, a woman who had long since grown used to peerless beauty, felt her heart move at the sight of Mu Xuanyin’s ethereal beauty. She answered calmly, “He nursed his hatred in the Northern Divine Region for so many years before he finally started on his rampage of revenge. If I were to appear now, I would distract him and lessen his desire for revenge… At the very least, I shouldn’t appear right now.”

Chi Wuyao’s eyes grew hazy as her lips trembled. “So you’re saying that as a realm king of the Eastern Divine Region, as the one person in the world who could cause him to waver, you have no intention of stopping him at all?”

“Stop him? Why should I stop him?” Mu Xuanyin’s voice turned cold as she stared into the void. “Doesn’t this world owe him enough?”

“Furthermore, the current me is no longer a realm king of the Eastern Divine Region,” she continued. “I amm also no longer anyone else’s puppet. I belong wholly to myself… A Mu Xuanyin who has never been more free, never been more true to herself.”

Chi Wuyao: “...”

“I muddled along in life for so many years. Now that I’ve died and come back to life, it’s about time to live for myself.”

She turned to look at Chi Wuyao. “If he wants to take revenge, then let him do it to his heart’s content. If he wants to vent his rage, then let him vent all of it out. If he wants to kill anyone, then he can go ahead and kill that person! Even though I am someone who was born in the Eastern Divine Region, I see no reason to go and stop him.”

Chi Wuyao gave a small smile as images started to float up in her mind. “No matter what he becomes, even when he has transformed into the feared Devil Master of the North, someone who has become as brutal and vicious as a devil god, your habit of spoiling him and letting him run wild still hasn’t changed.”

“...” Mu Xuanyin lapsed into a long period of silence. When she finally spoke, her voice had grown a lot softer. “Back then, I punished him for his disobedient and wilful behavior time and again. I even tried to think of ways to restrain his rash nature.”

“This time, it’s different.”

“This time, he has the right to be wilful. No matter how wilful his behavior is, it’s justified this time around.”

After she finished speaking, she turned around to leave, her snowy robe dancing in the wind.

“Where are you going to go?” Chi Wuyao asked.

“After the Eastern Divine Region, it’s the Southern Divine Region, correct?” Mu Xuanyin suddenly asked.

“That’s right.” Chi Wuyao didn’t hide anything. “The Star God Realm isn’t strong enough to be considered a threat and we’ve already broken both the Eternal Heaven God Realm and the Moon God Realm. Yun Che already seems to have a plan in mind when it comes to the Brahma Monarch God Realm. Once all four king realms have been defeated, the convictions of the Eastern Divine Region will completely collapse and my Northern Divine Region will slowly begin to take control of it.”

“Are you heading to the Southern Divine Region?” Chi Wuyao suddenly recalled something.

“Yes,” Mu Xuanyin replied. “I’ll help you get rid of some obstacles before you invade the Southern Divine Region.”

It had been three full years since she revived in the Heavenly Netherfrost Lake, yet no one had sensed her presence.

A level ten Divine Master who could perfectly conceal her presence, someone who was also thought to be dead… She would be as terrifying as a nightmare to any strong Divine Master she targeted.

She could get rid of far more than just a few obstacles!

Her eyes grew hooded as she seemed to sigh gloomily as she whispered, “I used to hate devils with all of my heart and I used to kill any devil person that I came across. But to think there would come a day… where I’d actually take the side of these wicked fiends.”

“Your heart is content now, isn’t it?” Chi Wuyao smiled sweetly. “Furthermore, the current you is the real you. The one who is in complete control of her own mind and will. You are unconcerned with good or evil, right or wrong, and any responsibility, so everything you say and do comes from your heart.”

Mu Xuanyin did not give her a reply and began rising in the air.

“Wait a moment!” Chi Wuyao suddenly thought of something. The look in her eyes grew strange as she said, “Before this, you said the words ‘on account of your sincere feelings for Yun Che’... How would you know whether my feelings for him are real or not?”

“Could it be that you’ve been to the Northern Divine Region?”

“No,” Mu Xuanyin coolly replied. “But there is someone who told me a few things about your relationship with him.”

“...Who?” Chi Wuyao’s eyebrows arched.

“You’ll meet her very soon.”

Once she finished speaking, she rose into the air and vanished into a twinkling of icy light in the next instant.

The current Mu Xuanyin had achieved complete and total control over her “invisibility”.

Chi Wuyao stood there with furrowed brows and it took a long time for her to come back to her senses.

That person...

Mu Xuanyin would not willingly reveal herself, so that meant that the person who found Mu Xuanyin and told her these things had actually been able to sense her presence.

It seemed that the only person who could see through Mu Xuanyin’s invisibility… was “her”.

She turned to look at the unconscious Qianye Zixiao lying on the ground below, her lips crooking up into a small beatific smile.

“Finding a suitable pawn to plant inside the Brahma Monarch God Realm was supposed to be as hard as scaling the heavens themselves, but now it’s become all too easy.”

As she whispered those words, her hand swept down as black light flashed in her devilish eyes.

Mu Xuanyin’s sneak attack had simply been far too powerful and sudden. It had actually caused the body and soul of a powerful Brahma King to collapse.

She’d even vaguely noticed that Mu Xuanyin’s Ice Phoenix divine power seemed to have undergone an enigmatic improvement.

As a devilish light flashed in her eyes, Qianye Zixiao slowly got to his feet. However, his arms were dangling and his eyes were slack and vacant.

“Qianye Zixiao,” Chi Wuyao said in a soft and cottony voice, “as you were escorting Mu Bingyun back to the Brahma Monarch God Realm, you were ambushed by Yama Emperor Yan Tianxiao and as a result, Mu Bingyun was taken away from you… Did you get all of that?”

Qianye Zixiao opened his lips and spoke in a dull voice, “I was escorting Mu Bingyun back to the realm… In the middle of our journey… Yama Emperor Yan Tianxiao ambushed me and Mu Bingyun was taken away from me because of that…”

“Very good!” Chi Wuyao nodded her head as she praised him. She suddenly thrust out a hand and a beam of dark light shot into Qianye Zixiao’s body, causing him to collapse to the ground again. The corrosive darkness immediately consumed all of the ice energy inside of his body, leaving behind startling wounds seething with dark energy.

She then also took to the air and swiftly vanished into the boundless sea of stars.

After ten breaths had passed, Qianye Zixiao got back to his feet inside the profound ark. He immediately pressed a hand against the dark wound carved into his chest. His eyes grew dark and somber as he spoke through clenched teeth, “That damned Yan Tianxiao! If you ever fall into my hands, I’ll definitely… rip you to shreds!”