Against the Gods

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When one mentions a “forbidden ground”, people would inevitably think of a place often filled with death and sinister danger. However this Forbidden Land of Samsara was an absolutely beautiful celestial land that even someone who had lived for tens of thousands of years would not be able to dream up.

Every single plant and flower in this place was filled with extraordinary life energy and spirit energy. The wood spirit girl quietly sat amidst the rainbow sea of multifarious flowers, her beautiful eyes listlessly staring into the distance. Once she sat down, it would be for the entire day and sometimes she would not even react to Shen Xi’s soft summons.

During this period, this had been her daily routine.

After she had heard the cruel truth from Yun Che that day, it was as if her heart and soul had fallen into a bottomless abyss that she could not escape from.

Yun Che walked to the side of the wood spirit girl, but she made no reaction. A light breeze blew north, but the surrounding flowers and plants still bent towards the wood spirit girl, as they softly and gently soothed and comforted her battered and broken heart.

Yun Che sat down rather forcefully and he very nearly squashed his body against He Ling as he sat down by her side.

He Ling finally made a reaction when their bodies touched, as her listless eyes unconsciously whirled towards him. But Yun Che instead looked into the distance, the same space which she had been staring listlessing into just moments before. He did not say anything to console her but he suddenly gave a deep empathic sigh, “This world is truly a mysterious one for it to actually have someone like Senior Shen Xi in it. Every time I look at her, I get seized by a feeling that this is all an illusion, the kind of feeling you get when you’re faced with a heavenly celestial maiden.”

Yun Che’s words and arrival caused He Ling to regain some of her clarity. She softly replied, “Master was originally a celestial maiden anyways.”

Yun Che looked at her from the side and discovered that when she spoke, her eyes were listless and devoid of any vigor. In the short span of a few days, that pair of beautiful eyes, which had looked like jade stars to him when he had first laid eyes upon them, had become so dull and jaded that they made it hard for one to breathe.

“I not only owe Senior Shen Xi a debt of gratitude for saving my life, but she was also able to see through all the worries in my heart and she took the initiative to ease those worries… Has Senior Shen Xi always been such a warm and gentle soul?” He said with a faint smile.

“Mn,” He Ling gave a nod of her delicate head, “Master is not only a celestial maiden but she is also this world’s most beautiful, most kind, and most gentle celestial maiden.”

“Ah?” Yun Che said with a look of shock on his face, “You’ve seen Senior Shen Xi’s true appearance?”

“Mn,” He Ling’s dainty head bobbed up and down once again, her voice still very soft, “But, you can’t see it.”

“Eh? Why not?”

“Because…” He Ling’s eyes finally regained a bit of life and color… but they still looked hazy to the point where it seemed as if she teetered on the edge of intoxication, “If you gazed upon Master’s true face, then this world would lose all of its color in your eyes.”

“...” Those words completely stunned Yun Che.

“From many years ago, Master stopped allowing any man to see her true face so it has been extremely long since any man was fortunate enough to gaze upon Master’s appearance. Even if you want to see it, Master won’t allow you to. But if you are really fortunate enough to gaze upon it…” Her tone and her gaze grew hazier as she continued, “Then it just might be that you won’t be willing to spare me another look after that.”

Yun Che laughed as he shook his head, “Haha, how is that possible. When He Lin spoke to me about you for the first time, he told me that you were the most beautiful big sister in the whole wide world, and at that time, I didn’t really believe him. But after I met you, I discovered that there was actually such a beautiful girl in this world.”

He Ling looked at him before giving a tinkling laugh, “The big sister that sent you here the other day, she was better looking than me.”

“Eh, is that so?” Yun Che said innocently.

He Ling glanced to the side, gazing into the distance, “I know that you are trying to console me. Sorry… that I caused you and Master to worry about me, I’ll be fine. It’s just that… it’s just that…”

In front of Yun Che, she had worked so hard to look fine so as to not let him worry over her. But, before she could finish speaking, her body and soul starting shuddering violently once again, and she could not stop it no matter what she tried, “I just can’t understand… What evil or wrong did our wood spirit race actually commit… for even the heavens themselves treat us like this… Just what exactly did we do that was wrong…”

She hugged her shoulders with both arms as she started to curl up into a tight ball.

“Your race didn’t do anything wrong, none of you have ever done anything wrong,” Yun Che softly consoled her. But he knew that his own words of comforts were extremely pale.

Her delicate head was pressed between her knees as she softly said in a melancholic voice, “Ever since I was young, royal father and mother told me that us wood spirits were a race that was protected by nature. As long as we were gentle, loving, and kind to everything and everyone, destiny would always take care of us in the end.”

As the memories of his short stay in the wood spirit’s secret realm flooded his mind, he gave a gloomy sigh in his heart, “Your wood spirit race is the most beautiful and kind race I have ever seen. Even though all of you have been through far too much injustice and hardship, but in the future… I also firmly believe what your royal father and mother said. In the future, destiny will definitely take care of you and pay you back manyfold for what your race has been through.”

“Heh…” She shook her head very vigorously, that light gasp of hers seemed to be a laugh, but it was a laugh that was filled with incredible bleakness and pain, “The future? Our wood spirit race… what future do we have…”

Yun Che instantly found it hard to breathe.

“The royal father and mother who told me those words are already dead… They used their lives to protect me… Yet I could not even protect my own kinsman, could not even protect Lin’er…”

“The only survivor of the wood spirit royal family is me, a useless woman… it’s already been completely destroyed… There is no future anymore… All of my kinsmen, all of the important members of my race… all of them are dead…”

“Future… the future…”

She muttered to herself, each word boring a hole through the heart.

Yun Che’s brows jumped and he suddenly discovered that he had completely misdiagnosed He Ling’s condition… It was much worse than even he had anticipated.

The bloodline of the royal family had been cut off, her kinsmen were no longer in this world, she was left all by herself, and her heart was still plagued by the guilt and self-recrimination she felt because of He Lin’s death and the severance of their bloodline...

The beliefs that they had held onto dearly had led to the most tragic and miserable ending. The hope and expectations that they had always believed and harbored in their hearts, had been completely destroyed, morphing into the darkest and gloomiest despair.

Fate had truly been far too cruel to the wood spirit race.

Even after he thought about it for a long time, he was not able to think of the right words to comfort her. Instead, Yun Che patted He Ling’s shoulders while giving her a small smile, “He Ling, at the very least, the wood spirit royal family did not truly die out. You are the last descendant of the wood spirit royal line, and even though you are a woman, the children you bear in the future will also have the blood of the wood spirit royal family running in their veins. So you need to live on and live well as the last remaining hope of the wood spirit royal family. After that, you need to guide your entire race and wait for the day that destiny’s protection is bestowed upon you all.”

“Destiny… Protection…” She softly muttered, “I already… won’t believe in such things ever again…”

Yun Che, “...”

She raised her delicate head up from between her knees, there were no tears in her eyes, there was just a dark gloom that would not fade away. She looked at Yun Che, looked at him for a long time before softly speaking with misty eyes, “Can you… call me big sister once?”

Yun Che had also been steadily looking at her, but he shook his head after that, “I am not He Lin, he is already dead.”

He Ling’s eyes closed as she spoke in a voice filled with pain, “Are you so unwilling to give me just this little bit of illusion?”

Yun Che’s eyes were gentle and deep, “Perhaps you won’t believe me, but I was once exactly the same as you are, and I had also been left with nothing… including all of my hopes and dreams. So, I can understand your current feelings and emotions, and I also understand all too well that the only thing this sort of illusion brings is a temporary sense of comfort, but after that, it will lead to an even more intense pain.”

He Ling’s gaze turned away from him and she once again buried her delicate head between her knees.

As he had been through a similar experience, Yun Che was indeed well aware of what He Ling’s current mental state and heart were like. It was just that she was not only a pure and stainless wood spirit, she was also just a young girl, so she was naturally far less resolute and strong than he had been at that time.

After a long period of silence, Yun Che opened his mouth yet again, “He Ling, even though I am not He Lin, from now on, I will be like He Lin and be part of your family.”

He Ling, “...”

“Even though I don’t know what I can help you accomplish, at the very least, I will never ever harm you. In front of me, you can cry to your heart’s content and if there is anything you want to say, you can tell it all to me.”

The current He Ling was undoubtedly in the worst of conditions, so he hoped that his words would be able to allow her to let down her guard and vent everything that she was holding in her heart… even if it was just a little bit right now.

But He Ling still did not give any response.

Yun Che pondered the situation for a long time and just as he was about to say something, He Ling suddenly said something in a soft voice… Her tone was very calm and cool, but the words that came out of her mouth were words that Yun Che had not expected at all:

“I want revenge.”

Yun Che’s brows furrowed violently as an indescribably strong shock and disbelief jolted his heart.

If one had lost all their kinsmen and had witnessed their entire race wither up and be scattered to the wind, it would be the most normal thing to feel the need for vengeance well up crazily on one’s heart.

But she was He Ling… She was a wood spirit! A wood spirit’s body was filled with pure life energy and they had an extreme degree of intimacy with nature. Their bodies, hearts and souls were all extremely pure, and they felt an extreme and natural repulsion towards anything that was wicked or evil. It was even less likely that they would be stained in fresh blood or involved in slaughter.

Even if it was the most common plant or flower, they would still be unwilling to tread on it.

These were the living creatures that were least likely to have the word “revenge” appear in their hearts and minds. In fact, one could go so far as to say they were the only creatures in the world that should never ever harbour this notion in their hearts.

When He Lin had knelt in front of him and wept while begging Yun Che to take him as his student, it was also merely to “protect his clansmen” and to “find his big sister”, there was never a hint of vengeance involved in it.

But he had very clearly heard the words “I want revenge” from He Ling’s mouth and she had even managed to say it in such a calm and controlled manner.

This kind of calm and control signified that it was not just a flash of emotion. Rather, this notion had started percolating in her head for the past few days.

He Ling slowly raised her head to look at the stupefied Yun Che. The dark and gloomy light in her eyes grew even more dense and those beautiful eyes, that had originally been as green as jade, had now turned a grayish-green, a color that had perhaps never appeared in another wood spirit’s eyes before, “Did Lin’er and the rest tell you who... was the one who forced our entire race into desperate straits after causing the deaths of my royal father and mother?”

“...” Yun Che shook his head, “I don’t know.”

Yun Che’s brief moment of hesitance caused He Ling’s eyes to violently ripple instead. In the next instant, she reached out a hand to grab Yun Che by the arm, “You know who it is, right? Tell me… Tell me… exactly who was the culprit!”

Yun Che shook his head yet again, “I really don’t know. Moreover, they also had no reason to tell an outsider like me about such a thing.”

In actuality, when he had stayed in the wood spirit’s secret realm, Qing Mu, who had given him a wood spirit orb, had told him that the people who had killed He Lin and He Ling’s parents and forced their entire race into truly desperate straits had been… the Brahma Monarch God Realm!

This was a name that she could never truly take revenge on.

So he was definitely not going to tell such a thing to He Ling at this point of time, because the reality of the situation was far too cruel and it would only cause her to fall into an even deeper despair.

“No, you definitely know, you definitely know.” He did not know if she truly thought that he knew the answer or if she was merely grasping at the last straw that she had left, “Tell me, please tell me, please…”

“He Ling!” Yun Che grabbed He Ling’s shoulder as he said with knitted brows, “Just listen to me…”

“Tell her, she has the right to know.”

A voice that was light and gentle as a floating cloud suddenly rang out behind Yun Che.

Shen Xi quietly stood at a place not too far away from them but Yun Che had not sensed her arrival, nor did he know when she had come. Perhaps, she had already heard everything that he and He Ling had said.

“Master,” He Ling softly muttered, she remained listless and despondent even in front of Shen Xi.

His heart cried out in opposition, but Shen Xi’s gentle words carried with them a magic that no one could resist. Yun Che sucked in a small breath before speaking, “In the place where He Lin and the rest were taking refuge, Senior Qing Mu told me that the people who had pursued all of you in the past… had come from the Brahma Monarch God Realm.”

Shen Xi, “...”

“...” He Ling’s lips parted and froze in place. No matter how little she was aware of the world, sbe should also know what kind of existence the “Brahma Monarch God Realm” was.

The head of the four king realms in the Eastern Divine Region, a king realm that possessed enough strength to be ranked among the top three king realms in the entire God Realm.

“But besides that, Senior Qing Mu did not tell me who it was from the Brahma Monarch God Realm,” Yun Che said with a sigh. “Even though, I don’t really understand why Senior Qing Mu was willing to tell an outsider like me these things… I believe that he was not lying.”

“Brahma… Monarch… God… Realm…” He Ling softly muttered to herself with closed eyes, her entire body was shivering as she said those words.

Because he was practically squashed against He Ling’s body, Yun Che could clearly feel her heart and soul rapidly sinking… sinking into a bottomless abyss of despair.

“He Ling!” Yun Che’s heart tensed up and he already regretted telling her this truth.

“Ling’er.” Shen Xi’s gentle voice rang out softly, “If you truly want revenge, then there is one person who can help you… and in this world, he is the only person who can help you.”

Those gloomy beautiful eyes opened in the next instant. Yun Che was also incredibly stunned by those words and he involuntarily asked, “Who?”

In this world, who had the strength and the guts to take revenge on the Brahma Monarch God Realm?

And who would actually help a wood spirit take revenge against an existence like the Brahma Monarch God Realm?

What was even more inexplicable was this: Shen Xi was like a celestial being that had been banished from the heavens, someone who never involved herself in worldly affairs, so why would such a person say such things to He Ling… She actually clearly seemed to be encouraging and instructing He Ling on how to take revenge?