Against the Gods

Shred!

A blade cut through the air, soft but sharp.

The next moment, a small abyssal beast pouncing toward a young woman separated into several pieces and hit the ground with a series of sickening thuds and squelches.

The young woman put away her sword and continued on in silence.

Half a month ago, she had advanced to the point where she could execute her technique without a sound. By now, her technique had actually regressed.

She did not seem to notice or care, however. She continued to walk forward aimlessly.

It had been seven days since she parted ways with Yun Che.

The day Yun Che bade her goodbye, she felt as if someone had dug out her heart. Her chest felt empty, suffocating, heavy… It was a kind of sorrow she had never experienced before, and there were no words in her dictionary that could explain it adequately. None.

She was rapidly growing in the department of common sense. Although her mind wasn’t fully mature yet, she rationally understood that Yun Che’s departure was the most rational and correct decision he could have made for both of them.

At first, she thought that this horrible emptiness was temporary. That she, the Heaven Breaker Divine Daughter, would quickly recover from it and return to normal.

One day passed… two days… three days… five days…

The hole in her chest was still there.

Wherever she looked—the ashen wood that one could lean on, the grayish, foggy sky, the sword marks on the ground, and even the barren earth—she could not help but see the silhouettes of herself… and Yun Che.

The cold wind brushing against her ears, the distant howls, and even the grayish silence most familiar to the Endless Fog… seemed to be rippling with his voice.

Hua Qingying never interfered. From the start until the end, she simply watched without a word. She never gave Hua Caili even a word of guidance or comfort.

If Hua Caili was as pure as a white paper, then Yun Che was a brush overflowing with seemingly all the colors there were in the world. He had dyed every layer of transparence in her life with clear, bone-deep color.

She was just a skylark who had left her nest for the first time. When Yun Che draped a blanket of colorful feathers on her shoulders, she felt how wonderful the world could be for the first time in her life. But just as she was going to drown in it… he had cruelly ripped it away from her.

On the surface, it looked like she had returned to normal. In reality, heavens knew how long it would take for her to recover from the pain, for the wounds to fade into nothingness.

“This is good.” Hua Qingying murmured to herself, “Once she overcomes this tribulation, her mind will become stronger than ever before.”

This was the reason she insisted on pushing Hua Caili into a trial before she got married, wasn’t it?

Hua Caili’s footsteps grew slower and slower. Finally, she stopped in front of a broken, black stump, staring.

A while later, she walked over to the stump and slowly sat on it.

In the past, he would guard her while healing her with the warmest light profound energy. He would meditate in peace beside her but sneak glances at her from time to time. He would answer all of her questions in a gentle voice, and he never once showed any impatience no matter how rude her questions were.

At the first hearing of an abyssal beast, his subconscious reaction would always be to protect her with his force field.

When they sparred, he stared not at her sword, but her. Always.

His sword style was fierce and brutal when fighting against abyssal beasts, but he never fought without keeping her in mind. He always made sure that not a drop of blood would stain her clothes or skin.

……

Now he was gone, and she was alone.

She unconsciously reached out and hugged herself.

The dimness of her eyes was such that it would shatter anyone’s heart.

Why did she feel like this? When she first entered the Endless Fog, she was alone. She was a bit intimidated by the Endless Fog, but also filled with expectation and even excitement.

She was now alone again. It was no different from when she began her journey.

So why… was she so sad?

Rustle~~

Suddenly, Hua Caili heard footsteps. It was less than a hundred steps behind her.

She snapped out of her melancholy and spun around, the Glazed Cloud Sword behind her back flashing brightly.

They were a pair of profound practitioners. The leader of the duo spoke up, “Are you hurt, fairy?”

Hua Caili did not answer. She simply turned around and disappeared from their view in short order.

The duo exchanged glances with each other. Her half-exposed face was unlike anything they had ever seen, but neither of them were tempted to give chase. After all, this was the Endless Fog. Their self-preservation instincts were ultimately greater than their desire to start something.

Hua Caili was the Heaven Breaker Divine Daughter. Her nature was one of absolute purity and goodness, and her self-cultivation was impeccable. In the past, she would behave with politeness and kindness no matter who she faced.

She hadn’t done so toward anyone for the past couple days. It was as if she had lost half her soul, unreactive and unresponsive.

Suddenly, Hua Qingying furrowed her brow and looked into the distance.

There, she saw Yun Che.

He was walking toward her. Walking, toward Hua Caili.

Hua Caili had been distracted for the past few days to put it mildly. She walked in random directions and did not have a destination in her mind whatsoever. The fact that she and Yun Che would soon run into each other again could only be pure coincidence.

The Endless Fog was vast, and yet the duo was about to run into each other again after just a week. What an ill-fated relationship this was.

For obvious reasons, it was not an encounter Hua Qingying wished to happen. But just as she was wondering if she should order Hua Caili to go elsewhere, a horde of abyssal beasts abruptly burst out of the fog and attacked Yun Che.

The abyssal beasts were all Divine Masters. They would be a great challenge for the likes of Hua Caili, but not Yun Che.

The massive vermillion sword named “Cloud Glaze” flashed into existence and unleashed a storm of ice and violence. In just a matter of breaths, Yun Che had dismantled every single abyssal beast in his way. His fighting style had always been brutal, but this was brutality on a completely different level from when he fought Hua Caili.

Suddenly, Hua Caili stopped in her tracks and looked up. For the first time in a week, ripples of emotions stirred in her seemingly dead eyes.

This presence…

“Young Master Yun…” She whispered. Before she knew it, she was already rushing toward the presence of her dreams.

“…” It was far too late to interfere at this point. Hua Qingying could only let out a quiet sigh and wait for the anticipated reunion to happen.

To her pleasant surprise, her expectation was betrayed.

While Yun Che was killing the final abyssal beast, his movement suddenly stuttered for one instant before he looked in Hua Caili’s direction. It was clear from his delighted yet panicked expression that he had sensed her.

For a moment, his face flashed with pain and struggle. Then, he spun around and took off in the opposite direction.

At top speed, he was far, far faster than Hua Caili. It wasn’t long before he completely disappeared from Hua Caili’s senses.

Hua Qingying: “…”

When Hua Caili arrived at the battlefield, all she saw was a ground of frozen, crushed meat.

There was no mistaking his unique aura, however. He was right here less than a minute ago.

“Young Master Yun!” She kept moving about and sweeping her perception through the Endless Fog. “Come out! I found you, so come out and meet me already…”

“Even if we must say goodbye… even if we may never meet again… we should at least have a proper goodbye, right? Young Master Yun!”

She received no response.

She did not give up. She followed the sword trail on the ground; the direction Yun Che seemed to have escaped in.

She chased for a very, very long time, passing through layer after layer of abyssal dust. She had long since lost his trail, and yet she never stopped because a worrying voice inside her heart whispered: if you stop now, you may never, ever, see him again.

Then, a snow white expanse abruptly dazzled her. It was a scene that should never appear in this eternally grayish world.

Hua Caili’s eyes widened, and her footsteps slowed before she knew it. She slowly stepped into the snowy field.

Snow… it was the same aura, the same snowflakes as that day.

A trail of tiny footsteps trailed her back as Hua Caili reached out and caught a snowflake. The rest covered her hair and white clothes in white.

At the center of the snow field lay a stone platform that was faintly covered by snow, and tied to it was a long, black belt.

The belt was tinged with Yun Che’s presence. It was clear he had left just a while ago.

Once she had arrived at the platform, Hua Caili slowly reached out and grabbed the belt.

There was a line of words on it. Written with light profound energy, it stated:

“Our meeting is already the best possible outcome. Why should our fond memories become a permanent scar?”

Both her fingers and her eyes quivered slightly. She turned the belt around and read the other line:

“Today we bathed in snow. One might say that we have shared white hair, have we not?” [1]

Hua Caili pressed her hands against her cheeks and fell powerlessly to her knees, her shoulders trembling violently.

The snow was still falling. It just barely covered up her suppressed sobs.

Hua Qingying’s eyes flashed once… and an abyssal beast that was moments away from attacking Hua Caili disintegrated into fine powder.

It had been less than thirty meters away from the young woman, but she hadn’t noticed it at all.

“Sigh.”

Hua Qingying could not help but let out a sigh. She knew that it was time for her to show herself. Hua Caili’s spirit was frail to begin with, and now it was rapidly approaching its final limits.

She descended from the sky and landed in front of Hua Caili.

The moment Hua Caili looked up and saw her aunt, the string of rationality that just barely held her together all this time abruptly snapped in half. She jumped into Hua Qingying’s lap and cried out her soul.

Hua Qingying did not say anything. She simply caressed the young woman’s back with the hand that wielded the strongest sword in the Abyss, allowing Hua Caili to vent all of her emotions.

Hua Caili wept for a very, very long time. The number of tears she shed was almost more than all the tears she had shed throughout her whole life. She did not stop crying until the snow had come to a complete stop, and dozens of abyssal beasts had let out a death wail.

Hua Qingying would slay anyone who made Hua Caili cry. Anyone.

But Yun Che… forget killing him, she couldn’t even blame him for Hua Caili’s tears.

Finally, the young woman’s sobbing began to weaken. The Sword Fairy looked down and said quietly, “I remember the day I subjected you to my harshest punishment. Even then, you only shed exactly two tears. I suppose today you have wept all the tears you should have wept that day.”

Hua Caili looked up from her aunt’s chest and looked at her through ropes of heart-breaking tears. “Aunt, I… I… I feel terrible…”

Those four words took her an unbelievable amount of time to squeeze out. As soon as she finished, her tears started flowing again.

“I know,” Hua Qingying said gently. “Do not be ashamed, and do not deny or doubt yourself. It may have hurt a lot, but it was still a wonderful experience, was it not?”

The young woman sniffled. “Have you… have you experienced it before, aunt?”

Hua Qingying shook her head. “No, but I never forgot what your mother…”

For the first time, Hua Caili snapped out of her sorrow and stared at Hua Qingying.

A bit of disorder entered Hua Qingying’s aura, and she closed her eyes to steady herself. Then, she began, “Do you remember my question from before you began your journey, Caili?”

The young woman opened her mouth. “You mean… when you asked me how far my determination goes?”

Hua Qingying shook her head, unsurprised that Hua Caili would not remember what she asked. In fact, she knew the young woman would forget it almost the second after she asked the question.

“I asked if you truly like Dian Jiuzhi.”

“…” Hua Caili’s tears stopped trembling.

Hua Qingying answered on her behalf, “You said you do. When I asked you what you like about him, you answered me saying that his looks and talent are outstanding, that he treats you very well, and that he is someone even your Father approved.”

Hua Caili vaguely recalled that memory now. Her aunt did ask her that question, and she did give her those answers.

“Then, I asked you, ‘Do you worry about him when he’s away?’ Do you remember what your answer was?”

The young woman recalled the memory and replied softly, “‘He’s the Divine Son of the Boundless Kingdom of God. No harm would ever befall him, so why on earth would I worry about his safety?’”

“Correct.” It was this answer that affirmed Hua Qingying’s determination to send her into the world, alone. “Now, tell me. Do you think about Yun Che when he is away?”

As soon as Hua Caili heard his name, her beautiful eyes immediately reddened once more. She sniffled once and forced away her tears with all her might before answering, “Aunt, I… I…”

“It’s fine. You don’t need to tell me.”

She knew that Hua Caili knew exactly what she was trying to say.

Hua Qingying said as evenly as she could, “Now that you have fully recovered, you no longer need to slumber in the Pure Land anymore. The Boundless Kingdom of God already knew this the last time you left the Pure Land.”

“Dian Jiuzhi, the Boundless Divine Son, has waited for you for many years. Now that he is aware, he will surely mention your engagement the next time he greets the Abyssal Monarch. I am sure your wedding day will be brought forward.”

“However, I know that your love for Dian Jiuzhi is not one of man and woman. I could have left you to your ignorance, but I just… could not see you etch a permanent mark in your life without knowing what it truly means.”

“Is it… because of mother?” The young woman asked.

“Yes.” Hua Qingying looked up, and a hint of deep sorrow flashed in the eyes of a Sword Fairy who so, so, rarely showed emotion. “Your mother is as gentle as water, but as passionate as fire. Her life may be short, but it is one without any…”

Her voice died down as if she couldn’t bear to continue. Another moment of silence later, she continued, “You… you are Qu Wanxin’s daughter after all. I would not be surprised if your soul is the same as hers.”

“That is why I wanted you to view the myriad expressions of the mortal realm and understand what love between a man and a woman truly is before you get married. I don’t wish for you to live in ignorance.”

She knew very well that Hua Fuchen was the opposite. He never wanted Hua Caili to learn about the love between man and woman. That was why he thought that Dian Jiuzhi was her perfect partner.

He never wanted his daughter to follow in his and her mother’s footsteps.

Hua Qingying did not know if she was right or wrong to do this. All she knew was that her obsession was born from her reluctance and defiance back then.

“I never expected you to fall in love yourself, but I suppose it’s a good thing.” Hua Qingying wiped away the tear stains on her face. “It may hurt, but once you have overcome this tribulation, your emotions and soul will become more well-rounded than what they once were. You will feel pain and regret when you and Dian Jiuzhi marry, but at the very least, you won’t be plagued by remorse and emptiness.”

“Overcome this tribulation…” Hua Caili murmured before shaking her head. “But how can I possibly…”

“You will,” Hua Qingying consoled her quietly. “Nothing hurts more than the first time, but time heals everything. You will learn to forget, to accept. You will learn to be rational, to decide after weighing the pros and cons. This… is the thorny growth he spoke of.”

1. When you live to old age, your hair turns white. 白头偕老 means being together until you grow old and white-haired. ☜