Against the Gods

Chapter 576 – Corpse of the Demon King

At first, no one could immediately recognize that the old man within the Coffin of Eternity was Yun Canghai, because compared to a hundred years ago, he was already completely unrecognizable. Yun Waitian and Yun Duanshui were the closest to the coffin. As they and Yun Canghai had been in the same family for two hundred odd years, they vaguely sensed the hint of a familiar silhouette, the aura of a Patriarch of the Yun Family which was unique to Yun Canghai. However, even they had simply released a hazy voice, and were basically unable to make a confirmation.

“You people, can you recognize this person?” Yun Che stood at the side of Yun Canghai’s corpse. With straightened brows and cold eyes, he looked at the seven Patriarchs and everyone else in the east wing who had hesitant and uncertain expressions. This was why, even though he had brought back Yun Canghai’s corpse, he did not allow Yun Qinghong to hold a burial as soon as possible, nor did he allow the rest of the Yun family to know about it. He definitely would not allow his grandfather to be buried with accusations that were planted by the evil intentions of others… He wanted to clear his grandfather’s name, and more importantly, have those people apologize and confess to his grandfather in front of the entire world!

“Yes, it’s impossible for the lot of you to recognize him! Even if a Monarch could have sensed something with his extremely strong spiritual perception, he definitely wouldn’t even dare to believe it!” Yun Che gazed at the entire hall, and said coldly, “He’s the one and only Demon King in the history of the Illusory Demon Realm, my grandfather, and is also the so-called ‘sinner’ that you people have criticized for exactly a hundred years… Yun Canghai!!”

When Yun Che shouted out this name, the entire hall instantly boomed. Everyone stood up, and stared at the person within the Coffin of Eternity with wide eyes. Their faces were all filled with shock and utter disbelief to the point that they couldn’t believe their own ears.

“Yun… Yun Canghai?!”

“Impossible! This withered and bony old man… How could he possibly be the Demon King, Yun Canghai?!”

“Didn’t Yun Canghai fall in the Profound Sky Continent a hundred years ago… How could it possibly be him?!”

The name of the “Demon King” Yun Canghai was known to everyone in the Illusory Demon Realm. However, that withered old man within the crystal coffin next to Yun Che, no matter how they thought about it, he couldn’t be connected to the Demon King whose name had shaken the world. A hundred years ago, Yun Canghai’s appearance was extraordinary, within his graceful face carried a form of might which people revered. Back then, his appearance looked as though he had yet to reach his thirties, and it was unknown just how many women of the Illusory Demon adored him in their dreams.

With Yun Canghai’s cultivation, even if another thousand years were to pass, there shouldn’t have been the slightest change to his appearance.

However, the old man within the crystal coffin had hair that was messy and white, had a body as withered as a rotten tree, as though he was a pitiful beggar who had starved to death after suffering from thousands of torture. Most probably, even humans at the lowest level of the Illusory Demon Realm wouldn’t be willing to take more than a few glances… How could this person be the Illusory Demon Realm’s Demon King who was beneath only a single person, above billions of people, and received admiration from countless people?!

“Patriarch… It’s really the Patriarch!!”

Yun Waitian and Yun Duanshui cried out in grief as they rushed forward and fiercely knelt in front of the Coffin of Eternity. Under their cries, they had already been overwhelmed with warm tears. Although they did not dare to believe it, and were unwilling to believe it, they had already placed all their trust in Yun Che… How could he possibly use the corpse of his own biological grandfather for a devious trick in front of Little Demon Empress, in front of the Twelve Guardian Families, and in front of everyone in the world?! Outsiders might not be able to discern him, but they were both people from the same family who were loyal to Yun Canghai back then. Even if he had died, even if his face was no longer recognizable, that indescribable subtle sense of familiarity which belonged to Yun Canghai truly existed so clearly.

The name “Yun Canghai” and the sorrowful cries of the two Great Elders caused the hearts of everyone in the Yun Family to tremble intensely. Yun Qinghong took a deep breath, raised his hand to stop the family members who had lost control of their emotions, and charged right out, saying, “That… is indeed father’s corpse. It was Yun Che who brought him back from the Profound Sky Continent… It’s enough for Great Elder and Second Great Elder to guard him. You people do not head over there any further, so as to prevent startling the elderly’s rest.”

Yun Qinghong’s words firmly proved the identity of the corpse. All of the people within the Yun Family felt as though something was bursting in their chests. Old tears were already flowing from the eyes of the three Grand Elders, Yun He, Yun Jiang, and Yun Xi… Even in their dreams, they never thought that there would come a day they could see Yun Canghai once again…

“He’s… really the Demon King?” With a startled gaze, the Little Demon Empress asked with surprise and doubt. In this lifetime, there were only two people whom she truly respected. One was her royal father, while the other was Yun Canghai. In a flash, it had already been a hundred years. She no longer hoped that she could see the corpses of her royal father and little brother, and similarly, she did not dare to hope that she could see Yun Canghai once again… But at this moment, Yun Canghai’s corpse, like a miracle and a dream, had returned to this Illusory Demon Realm, appearing right in front of her…

However, his appearance had instead caused her soul to quiver intensely… without pause…

With a stiffened expression, Yun Che said. “Even if I were the most heinous and vile person, I definitely wouldn’t use the corpse of my late relative for a scheme!!”

“Impossible!!” Helian Kuang said with a slightly husky voice. “Yun Canghai died in the Profound Sky Continent a hundred years ago, so how could his corpse possibly appear here?! And Yun Canghai’s profound strength was at the peak of the eighth level of the Sovereign Profound Realm, possessing a lifespan of many thousands of years… How could he possibly become like this?!”

“How could he possibly become like this?” Yun Che let out a bland laugh. His gaze carried a bone-piercing hatred, and his voice had turned incomparably cold as well. “A lowly person like you… naturally wouldn’t understand why my grandfather had become like this!!”

“You… Do you want to know why my grandfather currently looks this way?! Do you know want to know why his corpse could return here from the Profound Sky Continent?! Do you want to know why the Demon Emperor’s Seal is in my hands?!”

The three questions that Yun Che roared out were all questions that everyone present anxiously wanted to know the answer to, and it was even more so for the seven Patriarchs, who had an incomparable desire to find out. However, facing Yun Che’s frighteningly cold expression, eyes, and tone of speech head-on, even with their mighty Monarch cultivations, they clearly felt a deep sense of fear in their hearts… And, Yun Canghai’s corpse that was next to him… Although it was just a corpse, not a single one of them dared to face it directly, as though Yun Canghai’s heroic soul was there, staring at them.

Yun Che laughed. His smiling intent, in the eyes of the seven Patriarchs, were especially sinister and terrifying. “I shall now provide you people the answers to each one of them!!”

“A hundred years ago, my grandfather brought ten Grand Elders of the Yun Family towards the Sky Profound Continent to save the former Demon Emperor. However, they were struck with a scheme, falling into the enemy’s ‘Heaven’s Might Soul Suppressing Formation’ that was long well-prepared. The ten Grand Elders fell, while my grandfather was gravely injured… However, my grandfather did not die; instead, he was imprisoned, by the Profound Sky Continent’s Mighty Heavenly Sword Region, three hundred meters underground, in a place of complete darkness! With the Meteoric Chain locking his entire body, and with the Heaven’s Might Soul Suppressing Formation sealing his profound energy… this single imprisonment, lasted exactly a hundred years!”

Other than Yun Che’s voice, the entire hall was so quiet, a needle dropping onto the ground could even be heard.

Clank clank clank!

A set of incomparably heavy chains was taken out by Yun Che, and thrown onto the ground. “This is the Meteoric Chain which had locked my grandfather! Helian Kuang, didn’t you ask why my grandfather became like this in a mere hundred years? Because my grandfather, for a hundred years, he could not see the sun nor the moon. For a hundred years, he could not eat. For a hundred years, he was in complete darkness. For a hundred years, he stayed in solitude within the darkness. For a hundred years, he had his entire body sealed. For a hundred years, he had his profound veins suppressed. For a hundred years, he had suffered the Soul Suppressing Formation’s devouring… For exactly a hundred years, he was suffering a living death!”

Yun Che’s words had caused the expressions of the people present in the hall to turn pale, and chills ran down their entire bodies. While having his body and profound energy shackled, he even had to face an endless darkness and solitude… Even without the pain of the formation’s devouring, it would still be an experience similar to hell. Because, in this world, the most frightening thing wasn’t the torture that came to one’s body, but facing an endless darkness in solitude… Even if it was an incomparably strong profound practitioner, when shackled to this dark abyss, his spirit and willpower would have been tortured to the point of complete collapse after a few years, even driving him insane.

That was a form of living death no one could possibly not fear, and no one could truly endure…

A hundred years… They were basically unable to imagine that there would actually be a person who could endure in this dark abyss for a hundred years…

“In that place, during every second, my grandfather was enduring a mental torture that you people can’t even dare to imagine. Every second of it felt like a living death… He could have committed suicide in the first place, directly releasing himself. However, my grandfather did not do it. Even if he had to endure the largest pain, no matter what, he didn’t allow himself to die. My grandfather wasn’t a person who feared death, and in that place, no matter how one isn’t afraid of death, right after a month, that person will still use everything he have to kill himself…”

“The reason why he desperately clung onto life, was all because of this… Demon Emperor’s Seal!” Yun Che once again took out the Demon Emperor’s Seal, and said while gritting his teeth.

“This… is impossible!” Jiufang Kui roared out. “Since Yun Canghai had fallen into the hands of the Mighty Heavenly Sword Region, then how could the Demon Emperor’s Seal possibly still be on his body! Even if he opened a small dimensional space, it would definitely still be taken away. It’s definitely impossible for the Demon Emperor’s Seal to still be carried on his body!”

“Heh!” Yun Che let out a cold laugh. Right after, he closed his eyes, slowly moved the Demon Emperor’s Seal to the position of his own heart, and gently said. “In order to prevent the Demon Emperor’s Seal from being taken away by the Mighty Heavenly Sword Region, my grandfather opened a small dimensional space in the center of his heart, and hid the Demon Emperor’s Seal within… for exactly a hundred years…”

“Wh… What?!”

The expressions of the seven Patriarchs stiffened, and they could no longer let out a single sound. The Little Demon Empress’ pair of clear eyes suddenly widened, and the light in her eyes intensely stirred. Countless exclaiming voices sounded in the hall. Seemingly everyone had unconsciously reached out their hands to where their hearts were. Their hands constantly trembled, and their inner hearts had stirred to the extreme.

“Patriarch… Patriarch… You… Why… Why go to such lengths…” The people of the Yun Family were either dumbfounded, or had their eyes closed, while dozens of the Elders had already thrown themselves onto the ground, breaking down into tears.

Yun Qinghong raised his head, and tightly closed his eyes shut. His clenched fists were constantly releasing out dull bone-crackling sounds.

Opening a small dimensional space in the center of one’s heart, was indeed extremely hard for anyone to perceive. Thinking about the pain brought by this action would make anyone shudder in fear, even if it were someone who was as strong as a Monarch. Because Yun Canghai was located in the Heaven’s Might Soul Suppressing Formation, and his profound strength had been suppressed to a great degree, if it was taken out, the dimensional space would disappear right after, he would no longer have the energy to create another one, and the Demon Emperor’s Seal would thus be in a crisis of being exposed at any moment. Hence, in these hundred years, no matter how much pain he suffered, he had never taken out the Demon Emperor’s Seal. The small dimensional space where the Demon Emperor’s Seal was hiding had always been within Yun Canghai’s heart as well… for exactly a hundred years.

Earlier, they were unable to imagine just what kind of experience, what kind of pain and torture could cause a high-level Monarch to turn out like this in a mere hundred years… Now they knew. They now knew it all…

“Now, do you understand?” Yun Che looked at Jiufang Kui and said with an incomparably bland voice.

Jiufang Kui opened his mouth, yet, because of a dry throat, he could not speak out a single word.

Yun Che laughed coldly. Staring at the seven Patriarchs, his cold and bland words entered every one of their ears one after another. “The lot of you had best take a careful look at my grandfather. His entire body is withered, his hair is white, the gown on his body, had long scattered beyond recognition. In these hundred years, his every second had all been passed in purgatory. Only when he handed the Demon Emperor’s Seal that he had been desperately safeguarding to me, did he finally peacefully pass away…”

“Heh, then look at the lot of you… Similarly, a Patriarch of a Guardian Family, yet, every single one of you are so ruddy and high-spirited, wearing such expensive and glamorous clothes. In these hundred years, the lot of you lead your entire families, gazing arrogantly upon the world in such an awe-inspiring manner. What the lot of you ate were the finest delicacies, what you used were the finest spirit pellets and medicine. The lot of you have lived such a comfortable and unfettered lives!”

Yun Che’s voice changed, and his every word was as sharp as daggers. “Yet, carrying the name of loyalty, the lot of you still grandly collaborated together to suppress our Yun Family! The lot of you still wished to defame my grandfather, who had spent his time in purgatory bitterly protecting the Demon Emperor’s Seal, into an eternal sinner!! The lot of you still wanted our Yun family to endure a hundred years of sin, and had even wanted to banish us eternally!!”

“Do the lot of you still have any face?! Any conscience?! Any pride?!”

“Do you people even have the slightest bit of shame?!”

Author’s Note: Yay, I’m a dad~~~(>_